At close of business on Friday 9 November, Money Partners' range of secured loans will be removed from the market.
Money Partners has reassured brokers that its full-range first mortgage offering – spanning prime to heavy adverse – is to remain unaffected.
The lender has cited market conditions as having a severe impact upon the secured loans sector - a direct catalyst for this latest move.
After the full force of the US non-conforming crisis hit the UK in August, Money Partners has revealed it worked hard to source alternative funding methods for its secured loans offering. However no viable opportunities presented themselves.
The lender believes this is because institutional investors are continuing to shun secured loan-backed assets and transactions, regardless of their underlying quality.
Adam Henry, director of secured lending at Money Partners, said: “It’s a painful fact that we haven’t had a meaningful lending presence in the secured loans sector since introducing a limited product range in September. The result is a pipeline of pending business that is modest in size.
"This should minimise the impact of our decision on brokers and their clients. But we believe it’s the right one tactically because the sector simply isn’t working at its wholesale money supply end.
“By suspending our secured loans range now, we can focus our energies on those parts of the market that are continuing to function, albeit imperfectly.
"This is important if Money Partners is to position itself to take full advantage of the opportunities likely to be on offer in the post-credit crunch world. We believe these will be many and certain to include secured loans.”
Acknowledging the support of brokers, Henry said: “Money Partners remains absolutely committed to the secured loans sector. It has been a good friend to us in our short but successful history, and we temporarily leave it as an active lender with great reluctance and not a little emotion. But it’s au revoir rather than goodbye, and we look forward to returning in better times.”
