Last year the Group’s 220 advisors put £80 million worth of business through the Barclays’-owned subsidiary, making it one of its top five lenders.
But, according to Chris Ollerenshaw, chairman of the Black and White Group, cancellation rates on remortgages were running as high as 25 per cent and completions took in excess of three months.
Explaining the firm’s decision, Ollerenshaw commented: “Being a national mortgage broker, we have a choice where we put our business. We make no apologies for being ruthless and unfortunately the Woolwich aren’t making the grade.”
Reacting to the announcement, Woolwich press officer Emma Keens, said: “We are sorry that Black and White Mortgage Company decided to take Woolwich off their panel, this is certainly not the trend. The Woolwich has been working hard to improve mortgage servicing for its customers and this has been acknowledged in the market. However, the market was extremely buoyant which caused a delay in processing some applications towards the end of 2003.”
Commenting on the decision Rob Clifford, managing director of Mortgageforce said: “We too suffered very significant service issues from the Woolwich last year. However we would find it difficult justifying to our clients the reason we don’t have a lender the size of the Woolwich on our panel.”
Sally Laker, managing director of Mortgage Intelligence, said poor service was an issue a lot of lenders faced. She said: “It is important that lenders are transparent about their service levels so brokers can choose whether or not to use them.”
