Peter Rogerson, commercial director mortgages at the bank, said: “Most lenders will talk to you about partnerships. But with big branch networks full of customers, can intermediaries be sure they are always being put first?
“At Virgin Money we will do everything in our power to help intermediaries build their business because when they thrive, we do too.”
The manifesto commitments build on the bank’s announcement in January that it was increasing proc fees to 0.5%, saying that it believed in a “fair days’ pay for a fair days work”. Other commitments include promising to pay adviser clients £100 if fully packaged applications aren’t turned around with 10 working days; dedicated service; offering the best products to intermediaries and a 24 hour product withdrawal notice.
Rogerson said: “We want intermediaries to know that we are committed to getting offers to their clients as soon as we can – in fact, within 10 working days of receiving a fully packaged application.
“So if we don’t meet this service level agreement, we will give their customer £100. That’s a promise – and one that should keep us on our toes.”
Fully packaged applications would include making sure the likes of payslips and completed expenditure forms are supplied, a signed declaration form for Help to Buy cases and two years accounts where the applicant is self-employed.
Rogerson also pledged a dedicated service, adding: “We have award winning service teams on hand who know intermediaries’ areas and know their cases. And we have one of the largest teams of BDMs in the business, checking intermediaries are happy, listening to their feedback and ready to support them with whatever they need.”
Virgin Money would offer intermediaries the “very best products.”
“We don’t keep the best deals to help us find new customers ourselves,” he went on to say. “And we know that some mortgage products may be more suited to the intermediary channel so we’ll offer these exclusively through intermediaries.
“We will also give intermediaries at least 24 hours’ notice before we increase the rates on our mortgage deals. We will never just pull these products without letting them know first. That way both intermediaries and their customers know exactly where they stand.”
And reiterating January’s proc fee announcement he added: “We understand that writing mortgage business these days is taking more time. So we’ve made sure that our procuration fees reflect that, rewarding you properly for the hard work intermediaries need to put in.”
