Peter Stokes, director at Poole-based Davidson Deem Ltd, contacted Mortgage Introducer after checking the intermediary page on Portman’s website to find that only three out of the 15 products shown, excluding the lifetime mortgage, were available via intermediaries.
The opening paragraph on the page states: ‘Welcome to Portman Building Society’s web page that is dedicated to intermediaries. We are committed to offering an extensive product range to suit all your client needs.’
Stokes said: “Having received notification of new rates from the Portman I thought I would check out its revamped website. Noticing the word ‘extensive’ I checked out the range.
“However, excluding the lifetime mortgage, it lists 15 products of which a mere three are available via intermediaries and one of these is a two-year fixed with a four-year repayment charge overhang – a product with a very limited suitability. This has been going on for some time now at the Portman.”
Paul Howard, associate director at Portman Group Intermediary Sales, said: “This is a temporary and unusual situation. The massive business volumes experienced by our specialist intermediary arm The Mortgage Works (TMW) has resulted in us having to shift some staff from Portman to TMW to service the volumes.”
He added: “We are committed to intermediaries and to maintaining high service standards which is why we have temporarily shifted the emphasis from the Portman range.”
