George Henderson, of Independent Mortgages & Financial Solutions, accused the lender of poor communication.
He said that many applicants were key workers for the Open Market HomeBuy Scheme, and Halifax accepted the Government Loan Only initiative, that allowed a choice from any bank or building society.
Henderson said: “To start with, Halifax was accepting all cases with little input from the client and in some cases, they were allowed to fast-track. One broker I know had four cases go through to offer, which were threatened with withdrawal.
“I believe Halifax is in breach of ‘Treating Customers Fairly’ (TCF) rules because if these were not Open Market HomeBuy cases then they would all go through as fast-track or minimal underwriting. Has Halifax taken this stance, because statistics show these cases have high arrears? I wonder how the government feels about the way Halifax is ‘discriminating’ against those applying on the Open Market HomeBuy scheme?
Is it deliberately trying to deter brokers from placing business with it?”
A spokesperson for Halifax said: “As a company we take the TCF guidelines very seriously. We have a responsibility to check applicants’ details thoroughly and make an assessment of their situation to ensure that the product we are providing is suitable for the applicant.
“We are surprised by this claim as we aim to maintain the highest possible standards. In fact, we have never had anyone waiting on one of our Open Market HomeBuy lines for more than five minutes.”
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