Peter Beaumont, sales and marketing director at Mplc, spoke out against recent press comments suggesting it was being critical of other lenders and that they shouldn’t make such systems available.
He said: “For the sake of absolute clarity I would emphasise that Mplc is not anti-cascade underwriting and we have not made these remarks because of an inability to offer such a service ourselves. As our original press release pointed out, cascade underwriting is helpful in letting intermediaries know what alternatives are available but brokers need to remember it is their responsibility to find the very best deal for their client and not to simply accept a revised offer at face value.
“To do so is not only selling their clients short but is also exposing themselves to trouble if concerns are raised in the future about the product recommendation they have given.”
Mplc’s own underwriting system is capable of cascading up and down the credit curve and is being piloted by intermediaries and will go live early 2006.
Nigel Gardner, managing director at Genesis Home Loans, said: “Mortgage intermediaries need to remain mindful that if a query is raised in the future with the FSA about the suitability of a product recommendation, it will be the broker and not the lender who will be in the firing line.”
TFC Homeloans, the branded lending division of mortgage distributor The Finance Centre, has made Mplc’s entire range of affordability-based products available online. The range uses an affordability calculation based on income and expenditure with intermediaries having access to the online calculator with the aim of making the task of identifying maximum loan limits quicker and easier.
