Speaking at Abbey’s key accounts conference, Ricky Okey, managing director of Abbey for Intermediaries, made it clear it was not pulling out of the fast-track sector and it was a matter of making ‘tweaks and changes’ to policy. Okey would not be drawn on a time frame, though one is believed to be in mind for implementation.
Okey said: “We are in the throes of changing our fast-track policy. We are against high loan-to-value (LTV) fast-track business and will be looking more closely at cases that come that way. Where we have multiple submissions, we will also look at tightening up on that.
“It’s important to keep some perspective – we are not pulling out of fast-track; we’re making tweaks and changes. It’s about sensible review and we have made fast-track changes up and down over a period of years.”
Alongside fast-track, high LTVs, large loans and new build city centre flats will also face tighter policy controls from Abbey as it seeks to focus on and exploit its core prime business. Yet, the lender maintained that while it was tightening its policies, it would not be doing so dramatically.
Ray Boulger, senior technical manager for John Charcol, questioned whether Abbey’s move was an admission that its current fast-track policy was not tight enough. He commented: “We haven’t been advised of any changes as of yet, but unless there is a specific reason to change its fast-track policy, then it’s like an admission that Abbey’s previous policy was not robust enough. Bearing in mind it only does fast-track LTVs up to 75 per cent, if you take the view that the risk at 75 per cent is greater, then it would be acceptable policy to change automated underwriting as needed.”
