After shutting phone lines to intermediaries for nearly a week, the lender said it was temporarily halting new business on its graduate, key worker, flexible and buy-to-let mortgages.
However, it suggested that it would be looking at opportunities to re-enter in the future, once it had dealt with its current backlog.
Commenting on the move, Richard Clark, head of product development and marketing at Scottish Widows Bank, said: “We are still seeing exceptional levels of applications due to unique market conditions. This step will help us to focus on servicing the applications we have already received.
“We remain fully committed to our other markets and we will continue to monitor our business levels so that we can start accepting new business across our whole range as soon as possible.”
Elsewhere, other lenders have continued to make adjustments to product ranges at short notice as a result of the continuing liquidity crisis – a move that has consistently frustrated brokers.
Wave confirmed that it would be pulling its 85 per cent loan-to-value (LTV) range, while Merrill Lynch-funded Mortgages plc announced that it would be withdrawing from the prime buy-to-let market with immediate effect.
Abbey said it would be scaling back its LTVs on new build products, with all buy-to-let new build applications now requiring a minimum 35 per cent deposit. New build purchasers have been restricted to 85 per cent and 75 per cent maximum LTVs on houses and flats respectively.
A Mortgage Introducer source said: “It seems now that mortgage lenders are using the crisis as an excuse for poor service and for rapid withdrawals. This can’t continue.”
