MI - News contacted 72 intermediary lenders asking whether their online KFIs would be ready by 31 October and if they had a back-up system in place in case problems occurred with their KFIs after ‘Mortgage Day’.
At the time of going to press (Thursday 28 October) a total of 39 lenders had confirmed their online KFIs would be live and compliant by 31 October, while a staggering 29 lenders did not respond to the survey.
Three lenders; NatWest, Melton Mowbray Building Society and Mansfield Building Society, confirmed they would not have their online KFIs ready by 31 October and Cheltenham & Gloucester (C&G) admitted its online KFIs will only be available to a limited number of brokers come ‘Mortgage Day’.
Respondents that guaranteed their online KFIs would be ready and that they also have back-up systems in place include Accord Mortgages; Abbey; Bristol &West; Chelsea Building Society; First National; GMAC-RFC; igroup; Northern Rock; Southern Pacific Mortgage Limited and The Woolwich.
Lenders who failed to confirm their online KFIs would be ready include Bank of Ireland; Cheshire Building Society; Leeds & Holbeck Building Society; Mortgages plc; Newcastle Building Society; Principality Building Society and UCB Home Loans.
For the full lists of respondents and non-respondents see boxes left and right.
Kevin Morgan, managing director of Consilium Financial Planning, said: “If I were the FSA I would be very disappointed and worried about the results of this survey.
“It’s a poor show that 29 lenders failed to respond and it makes you seriously wonder if their KFIs are ready. These lenders do not deserve intermediary support. We have to be compliant, so lenders too must show they are compliant also. Shame on them.”
Robin Gordon-Walker, spokesperson at the FSA, said: “We haven’t carried out a survey like this one on KFIs. Lenders are highly responsible in terms of issuing accurate KFIs but they may want to be 100 per cent sure that they are compliant before declaring they are ready.
“Many lenders will not have to issue an actual real KFI until after ‘Mortgage Day’ so they may want to wait until regulation actually starts to declare any guarantees they can give about their systems.
“We expect some adjustments may have to be made to lenders’ systems in the first two weeks of regulation but we are not expecting any major problems with the KFIs.”
Matt Gilmour, chief executive at Infinity Mortgages, which was the first lender to launch its online KFI, said: “This survey is embarrassing for mortgage lenders.
“The KFI is not a hard document to develop. If a small lender like us can be ready, so can everyone else. Why has everyone left it until Monday to get their KFIs ready? It’s disgraceful.”
