The offer applies to both Intelligence’s Spirit solution for appointed representatives (ARs) and Vantage for directly authorised intermediaries and includes a free face-to-face compliance health check for all new Vantage members.
Sally Laker, managing director of Mortgage Intelligence, said the issue for brokers was no longer whether to become directly authorised or become an AR.
Laker explained: “We don’t believe that networks should expect mortgage intermediaries to pay now for benefits that they don’t actually need until FSA regulation comes into force on the 31 October. We also want to avoid having to deal with large volumes of applications during the build up to ‘Mortgage Day’, so we want them to commit as soon as possible to stagger the process as much as we can.”
Pink Home Loans, which has been waiving fees for new network members until regulation if brokers work under their own MCCB number, said the vetting process takes two months so brokers need to act now.
But Tony Jones, managing director at Pink, added that reluctance over fees only partly explained the low take up of network places.
“The market is still buoyant keeping brokers busy writing business and there is the fact that brokers on the whole are quite short-termist in their thinking,” he said.
Unconfirmed reports have also emerged that Legal & General plans to offer free network membership, with no charge for professional indemnity insurance. Many L&G Mortgage Club members are expected to join the insurer’s network to avoid the threat of substantial insurance premium clawbacks.
