Espin wrote to Mowat, Conservative MP for South Warrington, last month expressing concerns on the damage the MMR responsible lending proposals could do to the mortgage and housing markets as well as the wider economy.
But weeks later Espin says he was “fobbed off” with such a bland response from the MP that he now wonders whether Mowat had even read his letter at all.
Espin said: “My email to him was critical of the Financial Services Authority but I also have many constructive points to make and we need our MPs to engage with the issues of regulation to ensure that the replacement to the FSA is not simply a re-hashed MCOB et al and that the Treasury does not simply recruit all the same people from the top of the FSA that got us into this position in the first place.
“His response was just the pits.”
In his letter to Mowat Espin explained his concern that the MMR proposals focussed heavily on protecting lenders yet ignored many of the issues and needs of current mortgage holders.
“Mortgage brokers provide a hugely valuable service to their clients by visiting them in their own homes at a time that is convenient to the customer (usually in the evening), sourcing a suitable product from the whole of market and giving advice - none of which is possible from a high street lender,” Espin wrote.
“I appreciate that the FSA is to be replaced shortly but if the changes proposed in the MMR are allowed to be implemented, the FSA's legacy will be untold damage to this valuable industry for the country and will destroy the aspirations of millions.”
But Mowat’s response was woeful – even thanking Espin for “contacting me about self-certified mortgages”.
Espin has said he plans to write to Mowat again saying his “response was inadequate, not to mention insulting, and I expect him to do better next time”.
He added: “I have to say that his letter does not in any way address the issues raised in my email to him and I have to wonder if he even read it at all. My email was not even about self-certified mortgages, so that was a good start.”
Espin also wrote to neighbouring constituent MPs George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, who has not yet responded other than to confirm receipt, and to Yvonne Fovargue, Labour MP for Makerfield, who replied on 25th October saying she has written to the FSA regarding the concerns raised and will be back in touch when she receives a response.
Espin said: “Whist Yvonne’s is a better response than the one from David Mowat, it is hardly appropriate given the content of my email to her. Do they actually read these things?”
But elsewhere other industry pundits have had more luck with local MPs, including Kevin Friend, formerly of mortgages.co.uk.
Friend met his own local MP, Peter Luff, a minister in the defence department, earlier this month to raise his concerns about the FSA’s MMR proposals and their potential impact on normal, middle class people’s homeownership aspirations.
Friend called the meeting “very positive” and added that Luff had confirmed that he had raised the issues discussed with more senior Tory ministers as well as writing to George Osborne directly.
Friend said: “The FSA’s proposals will have an irreparable effect on the sector and wider economy if they go ahead unamended. But it was a very good meeting, and for Mr Luff to write to me and confirm his understanding of my concerns as well as raise it with Mr Osborne - I don’t think I can do much more than that.”
