Now I am not a broker, but I do know something about running a business, so I can see that in these times of limited mortgage funding being available, it is tempting for lenders to try and maximise their returns by having the customer coming directly to them.
But is it reasonable for a broker to have to refer their client to the lenders who are offering better rates to the direct customer, after they have spent several hours assessing their requirements. Personally I think not, unless a fee can be charged to the borrower to cover your time, but under TCF it would appear to be the only course of action if you can’t match the rates available elsewhere.
Frank Hadley of Oak Financial Management comments: “If we were to take an extreme example, say C&G, (don’t call us) they see us as a hinderance rather than an asset. Even when times were good they couldn’t cope with the levels of business we wanted to place with them, and I am certain they are not alone.”
“Imagine what you would do if you were the head of a Bank with a share of some billions to distribute - would you prefer to see that lent through your existing branch network and make them more profitable or would you feel that paying a third party to introduce business to you was more effective? “
“I suspect that the Banks will adopt more of the former attitude and try to decrease their dependency on introducers and we will have to go begging for mortgages for our clients as we did in the 80''s when lending was tight.”
“We know that this is a very short sighted approach as we pride ourselves on service and the longevity of our association with our clients and the Banks need to consider these aspects very carefully in respect of us.”
“I know that it is not possible to ''blacklist'' a lender as we are a) responsible advisers and b) eager to source the best deals for our clients, but wouldn’t it be nice to be able to make them take notice of us once in a while? “
So at Mortgage Introducer we are going to start a support the broker campaign and we would welcome your input as to how to go about this. In the first instance I thought perhaps you could tell us which lenders you feel are supporting brokers so that we can highlight this on the website, in this way perhaps the lenders that aren’t might be encouraged to think twice, but that will only be a start.
Gail Anderson of AGS Mortgage Solutions Ltd expressed what many of you feel when she said: “Lenders are indeed freezing out intermediaries that have supported them in the good times the products available to intermediaries by some lenders are not competitive as if the client was to go direct.”
“ Only last week I sourced two first time buyers to find the only products available were at 90%. However the Halifax have a selection of 95% FTB products and so although I had given the advise and been through the process of factfinding and explaining the mortgage process then had to direct them to the Halifax as this was in my opinion treating my customers fairly”.
“However how can TCF be implemented when these lenders are not [treating us fairly]. Come on lenders we have supported you in the good times, support us in the bad.”
Hear hear.
Please email [email protected] with any feedback you may have, many thanks, Andrew.
