An insider at C&G, which is owned by Lloyds TSB, informed Mortgage Introducer - News about what they deemed serious faults at C&G.
The insider accused the lender of having ‘no e-mail systems in branches; no online mortgages; no online investments; high numbers of employees leaving; meltdown of systems due to lack of investment; a freeze on expenditure and senior staff ‘pleading’ with staff to make the most of outdated systems and under achieving departments’.
The insider also said the chairman of C&G had decided to leave as he had ‘had enough of Lloyds TSB incompetence’ and has been replaced by yet another ‘Lloyds TSB hopeful’.
Peter Mounty, head of communications at C&G, dismissed the accusations but did acknowledge that the lender was a bit behind with e-mail technology. He also confirmed the chairman, Roger Burden, had left but that his departure was due to personal reasons.
Mounty said: “We have no e-mail in branches but this has not caused us any problems. Intermediaries can get mortgage applications online. We’re not as online enabled as we’d like to be but it would be wrong to infer we do not have these services available. We’re also continuing to phase in our online KFIs to brokers at invitation.
“But to say we are experiencing a meltdown of our systems is ridiculous. We have dedicated three times as much resource to upgrading our systems.”
He added: “Roger, our chairman, did leave about two months ago, but this was because he wanted to dedicate more time to his role as a senior official at the Football Association.”
Mike Fitzgerald, sales director at Brentchase Financial Services, said: “Any lender that wants to be up there has to offer good service and good communications. If not their market share will fall. Brokers are quick to react and it seems not too many intermediaries are using C&G all of a sudden.”
