HSBC withdraws all products, Nationwide adjusts rates
High street lender HSBC announced on Thursday that it is pulling all its mortgage offerings from the market, while Nationwide Building Society has stated that it is updating selected product rates.
“In order to maintain our service levels, we will be removing our current new business residential and buy-to-let products from sale at 5pm today, June 8,” HSBC informed brokers at lunchtime. “If we need to remove our product range before the end of the day, we will send another notification to inform you.”
The bank did pull out all its mortgage products hours later, as borrowers rushed to beat rising rates, causing its website to slow down due to a sudden increase in traffic. As a result, HSBC has no mortgage products available until Monday, June 12.
Meanwhile, Nationwide announced, also at lunchtime, that it is changing rates of some mortgages across its new business and switcher product ranges.
“From tomorrow, Friday, June 9, we’re making some changes to selected rates across our new business, switcher, additional borrowing, and existing customer moving home ranges,” the mutual said.
Nationwide’s selected fixed rates will be increased by up to 0.25%, while selected tracker rates will be reduced by up to 0.85%. Full details of the rate changes can be viewed online.
Find out the Nationwide BS Mortgage Rates of mortgage products listed in database here.
Brokers are not pleased
The HSBC and Nationwide announcements came in the midst of broker appeals for a minimum notice period of 24 hours on product withdrawals by lenders. As such, it was no surprise that many brokers were not pleased.
“Yet again, we are here with lenders offering minimal notice and a system that can’t cope with the demand they now face,” Jamie Lennox, director at Dimora Mortgages, said. “More needs to be done by lenders to give a minimum of 24 hours to brokers to allow reasonable time for consumers to consider their options.
“Shorter notice periods will lead to an influx of poorly packaged cases that will result in more hours being lost by underwriters having to assess the case multiple times while they wait for documents to come in. With these short windows to submit, there is a real risk that more fraudulent cases slip through the net as brokers scramble to get apps submitted without completing proper due diligence.”
Riz Malik, founder and director at R3 Mortgages, said that he saw the announcement while at lunch, and “it really underscored the turbulent times we’re currently facing in the market.”
“This is exactly why we’re advocating for brokers to endorse the 24-hour pledge,” he stressed. “Earlier today, I had the opportunity to speak with the head of intermediaries at Coventry Building Society, gaining insight into their dedication to providing a 48-hour notice period. We sincerely hope other lenders will heed our calls and initiate a dialogue with the broker community.”
Other brokers said they already expected more product withdrawals, but decried that the lender’s technology systems appeared unprepared for the surge in website traffic.
“This was always coming but once again, the notice period of four hours and 15 mins is shocking,” Gary Boakes, director at Verve Financial, stated. “With the website struggling to cope with traffic, customers as always will be made to suffer with increased mortgage payments.”
Here we go…🙏 pic.twitter.com/xQbN4GjNNM
— Mortgage Mike (@MortgageMikeN2) June 8, 2023
“Unsurprisingly, everyone has tried logging into the system following the announcement,” Ashley Thomas, director at Magni Finance, said. “I have been in a queue for a long time and, once I got past the initial wait, I have had several errors/issues.
“It is very unfair on clients and brokers with the short notice being given. We have had the same issues before with HSBC when they gave less than a day’s notice.”
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