A broker who contacted Mortgage Introducer – News said he was told by the Portman that it would be concentrating on its direct mortgage deals rather than intermediary deals in 2005.
The broker said: “I was made aware this week by a client that the Portman was running a 4.85 per cent two-year fixed deal with no valuation and free legals.
“I said that I would gladly look in to it for him but doubted that the deal included the free legals and valuation as the most up to date product details I have from the Portman do not have any easy remortgage deals.
“I called the Portman intermediary desk to query the deal and was told that, yes, this deal is available but only direct and not through the intermediary channels.
“They were quite happy to let me know that they were concentrating on direct to the public deals this year - not intermediary deals.” He added: “I would like other brokers to be aware of this as I feel the Portman have picked an incredibly bad time to pull a stunt like this.
“The only upside is that the deals offered to the intermediary by Portman are not competitive so as far as best advice goes there is not much chance we will ever need to recommend it if that’s all it has to offer.”
The accusation comes as the Portman-owned intermediary lender The Mortgage Works launches its new adverse product range, fuelling the belief that the Portman would want to balance its two distribution channels out by concentrating on the direct to consumer market.
But Matthew Wyles, group development director at the Portman, said: “It is true we have an exclusive direct to consumer deal with free legals but it is at a higher rate than the intermediary deal.
“The intermediary market is a central distribution channel for us. But like any other lender, we have other distribution channels as well.
“Some products sell better through the intermediary channel, and some sell more successfully by going direct, like our fee-free deals.”
