Freehold currently has 19 members. It offers a platform for regional mortgage distributors to work closely with selected lenders and other product providers to allow members to compete with larger national packager firms.
Paul Brett, spokesman for Freehold, welcomed the new members. He said: “This is a time when mortgage distributors are under considerable pressure from the expectations of product providers and their introducers to come up with the best product choices. Freehold offers access to the pick of products from a select lending panel. Our members provide a local service, which brokers appreciate. Once you add in Freehold’s product offering, we can all compete with the big battalions.
“We’re very much an organic association, building a strong core of packagers who are committed to our values. We’re here to stay and to do the job properly. This is one reason not to grow beyond 25 members, so we can maintain our exclusivity and quality offered to the market.”
Byron Brown, partner at Empire Homeloans, said: “Freehold gives us the framework that we are looking for to help us to grow our business and we are confident that this will be a fruitful partnership.”
Lorenzo Satchell, sales and marketing director at Just Mortgage Packaging, said: “We’re delighted to be joining Freehold. We’re sure membership will add value to our business through bespoke products and interaction with other members of what is a dynamic group.”
Jon O’Brien, operations director for the Professional Mortgage Packagers Alliance (PMPA), said: “It’s good to see that the formula started by PMPA, of packagers grouping together, has proved a popular one and I’m sure the companies will be very pleased with Freehold.”
