The lender’s retention system allows brokers to start searching for another mortgage through Halifax 12 weeks before the end of a client’s deal period. But if a broker fails to contact the customer within the first half of that period, Halifax approaches the customer directly, cutting the broker out.
Paul Fincham, spokesman for Halifax, said the lender had a legal obligation to contact the customer and it was not cutting brokers out of the equation. He said: “We have to tell a customer they are coming to the end of their deal and what their options are. The retention system is a fantastic tool for brokers to strike up a dialogue with customers, but brokers have to make sure they have their own systems in place. That’s the key.”
Rod Murdison, proprietor of Murdison & Browning, said: “The broker is dependent on the client getting back in touch and the vast majority of brokers don’t have a system set up to automatically warn them to contact a client. In an ideal world, they would. I’m not overly keen on Halifax stepping in, but I can see why it does.”
However, Andy Frankish, managing director of Mortgage Talk, believed Halifax was justified in calling customers if brokers did not. “Brokers should be proactively calling customers. If we’re not going to, then you can’t blame Halifax for doing it. Halifax has given us the technology to do it and one of the slickest processesing systems. Where brokers have the advantage over Halifax is that we have access to the full range of products on the market.”
