Speaking at the Mortgage Business Expo in London Sinclair appeared clearly baffled by the accusation put forward by the director general of the Council of Mortgage Lenders at the CML conference last week.
Last week Van der Heijden said: “We have to make distribution work for the customer and the quality of advised sales is sometimes inconsistent.
“Hidden procuration fees, the differentials that exist, staff incentives and direct channels can distort choice.”
Sinclair described the director general’s accusation as “controversial”.
He said: “How the director general of the CML cares to accuse lenders of doing something like that is beyond me.
“In fact he will find that all of you have very publicly disclosed all the commissions that you have earned on the key facts illustration and it just seems very strange that he would make this statement on a public stage and not expect to get sued.”
Sinclair also had tough words for any claims management companies which may be looking at interest only customers as the next compensation target and addressed them directly.
“Don’t be silly,” said Sinclair. “You will struggle to get compensation and you will struggle to find someone who will make a claim because I don’t think interest-only was mis-sold. People went into this with their eyes wide open and they knew exactly what they were doing.”
