In its May Intermediary Census on credit footprints, AMI found 43 per cent of brokers were never told by lenders’ websites what kind of mark an agreement-in-principle (AIP) or decision-in-principle (DIP) would leave on their client’s record.
AMI has insisted it wants lenders to provide more clarity on the issue as it could potentially damage a client’s future ability to get credit.
Rob Griffiths, associate director of AMI, commented: “The issue of credit footprints left by lenders’ credit searches continues to frustrate mortgage intermediaries. If intermediaries request multiple DIPs, and lenders are leaving ‘hard’ footprints with each credit search, this could have a damaging effect on the client’s ability to obtain future credit, and have an impact on their ability to shop around.”
The issue of footprints has been contentious for a while and mortgage intermediaries are finding little, if any, improvement.
Danny Lovey, sole trader at the Mortgage Practitioner, believed something must be done.
He said: “What brokers want to see is a situation where lenders say what footprint they will leave on an AIP/DIP. Sourcing systems could get this information for us when we research the product. However, what is needed is clarity and transparency in this situation.”
Colin Dale, head of lending at Skipton Building Society, said: “If you are doing an AIP/DIP then it shouldn’t be leaving a hard footprint. This only happens on a definite application, and as far as I am aware, this is how most mortgage lenders work.”
Mark Sismey-Durrant, chief executive of Heritable Bank, commented: “If you’re doing high volumes of business you need to have some form of automated system but that often reduces the flexibility of lenders to deal with issues when they crop up.”
