Mortgage Introducer exclusively revealed in October last year that the West Brom would be launching into the non-conforming market through a limited number of distributors including Mortgageforce, plus Mortgage 2000’s packager m2-d&p and The Mortgage Partnership.
At the time Rob Clifford, managing director of Mortgageforce, which was acquired by the West Bromwich last March, confirmed that access to the products would be through limited distribution at first. There are also different launch dates for West Brom’s consumer branches and the broker market. Clifford said: “There is no question that building societies getting into specialist lending will be attractive to consumers as they have long-standing brands.”
Key products details include a near-prime two-year fix at 5.89 per cent, a three-year near-prime tracker at Bank Base Rate (BBR) plus 1.34 per cent, a near-prime two-year self-cert fix at 6.14 per cent and a medium adverse three-year tracker at BBR plus 1.84 per cent.
John Mawdsley, director at The Mortgage Partnership, said: “We have a close working relationship with the West Brom and we are keen to support it in its entry into the non-prime market. It has launched with some great products and we expect it to be very popular with our customers.”
Sean Hornsby, managing director of Mortgage 2000, said: “ West Brom is taking a sensible approach by launching into this specialist market through a pilot basis at first. It is making sure it has the systems and product offerings right before widening the distribution. It will monitor the situation for four months before looking at offering a direct to lender option as well.”
