Stuart Francis, director at Bluesky Mortgages, contacted Mortgage Introducer after he found his client was being offered a more generous affordability calculation at the local Connells branch than he could obtain.
Francis explained: “After inputting my client’s income into the RBS calculator I worked out a maximum loan amount of £92,000.
"However, after they visited the mortgage adviser at the estate agent where they were buying from, they phoned to advise me they were going with the agent’s adviser because they could get the required £97,000 with RBS.
"After a discussion with the RBS development manager, I have since learned that different rules apply all because the amount of business Connells does with RBS.”
Francis believed the situation showed RBS did not respect smaller brokers. He was also dismayed at the fact that the agency adviser could get a larger amount when they only had a panel of 15-20 lenders, while he offered a whole of market service.
In response, RBS Intermediary Partners admitted that it was running a pilot scheme at the time which was trialing offering better terms through certain distributors.
However, Graham Felstead, head of corporate accounts at RBS Intermediary Partners, insisted that it was common practice for lenders to look at improving any relations it had with firms.
He said: “It is common for lenders to run pilot schemes with intermediary firms, as it helps to refine the proposition or offer before a whole of market launch.
"This is what has happened in this case. We were running a pilot scheme with Connells to assess the effectiveness of a high loan-to-value (LTV) affordability calculator. That is why, in this particular instance, the Connells adviser was able to offer a larger loan.
“However, now that we are no longer offering products with LTVs of greater than 95 per cent, there is no longer a difference. It is important to emphasise that the majority of lenders offer exclusive deals to a variety of networks, mortgage clubs and directly authorised firms that are not available to all brokers.
"We will continue to aim to provide mortgage advisers with a range of competitively priced products that is backed up with the great support provided by our BDMs."
