With the regulator taking a harder line against organisations that flout its rules and guidelines, a broker, who wished to remain anonymous, questioned how packagers could provide a TCF approach, if problems arose with a case. He said: “If I use a packager, and after the case I get a complaint, I don’t see how packagers fit in to offering a TCF approach, because the borrower will think the intermediary had delayed the case or had caused the problem. I think brokers are unsure how to approach the subject if packagers delay the case or something goes wrong with it because the packager seems to have no responsibility when it comes to issues like that and the intermediary is put in the firing line.”
He added: “The packager is paid by the lender, so I am not entirely sure where their allegiance lies.”
However Payam Azadi, head of marketing at The Mortgage Times Group, said TCF affected the whole industry. He explained: “Brokers, lenders, networks and packagers all have to make sure they are treating their customers fairly. With packagers, this could be through free valuations, not charging extortionate fees and making sure that the right disclaimers are on the information we provide. Packagers are not left out of the TCF loop and the larger packagers will have systems in place to ensure they are following TCF procedures.”
However he admitted complying with TCF could be harder for the smaller organisations. “Smaller packagers may find it hard to follow TCF rulings than larger packagers, because they can’t devote as much time to it.”
