Having launched its self-cert product range through Premier Mortgage Service in July, followed by a roll-out to directly authorised (DA) intermediaries in August, the lender had been accused of ignoring ARs.
However, Mehrdad Yousefi, head of intermediary mortgages at Alliance & Leicester, denied this was the case and said the lender was ensuring its systems were adequate. He said: “A&L decided to utilise a gradual launch of the self-cert proposition. We have not excluded ARs, we just wanted to make sure all of our systems and applications are in place before a full market roll-out. There is no bias or sentiment towards directly authorised brokers, and ARs can still submit cases if they go through mortgage clubs.
“We have had a number of cases where ARs have used mortgage clubs for our self-certification deals, but a full launch to the AR market is imminent. We hope to have all of our systems in place for an AR launch sometime in September.”
Kim Barrett, proprietor at KS Barrett & Associates, welcomed the move. He said: “It seems at long last lenders are recognising the different stages within the market. The gradual phasing in of the product shows that A&L recognises the different sectors, the DAs and ARs, and is catering for them at different points, to get it right.”
In response to the Bank of England (BoE) Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) decision to increase the Base Rate in August, A&L has also taken the decision to increase its standard variable rate (SVR). It now stands at 6.84 per cent, a rise of 0.25 per cent.
