The insurance company, which has been offering mortgages for almost 30 years, has cut its rates from 14.5 per cent to 13.5 per cent.

"LOJ has been giving mortgages for years but we have been low-keyed; now we are getting aggressive," said an LOJ representative.

The company has a portfolio of just under $1.3 billion according to its 2005 financial financial statements, making it a relatively small player in a sector dominated by building societies.

Total mortgage stock

That sector has a total mortgage stock of just over $41 billion as at the end of September 2006 and when combined with the National Housing Trust and credit unions the country's total mortgage stock is just under $85 billion.

LOJ's average mortgage loan is around $14 million, with its cap at $15 million.

Still, while the company has lowered its rate and says that the market is responding to the reduced rates, it's not among the lowest - Scotia Jamaica, for example, offers 11.99 for niche customers while industry leader, Jamaica National, has a 12.99 mortgage sale.

"A lot of things that the other institutions ask for, we don't. For example, we don't ask customers to pay an upkeep of, say, $1,000 for every million borrowed," said an LOJ executive.

"That's $10,000 more each month for a customer who borrows $10 million and can be quite a pressure on the customer."

The company, whose core business is life insurance, but develops real estate through its property arm, also does not require a deposit to be placed in an account before the mortgage is processed.

A week ago, in an attempt to capture more of the commercial market, LOJ also increased the loan to value ratio on properties from 50 per cent to 70 per cent, allowing clients to borrow up to 70 per cent of the property's valuation or selling price.