Mortgage Introducer was contacted by Craig Robertson, partner at 3i Mortgages, who said he and a number of brokers he had spoken to had clients who were telephoned by the lender to offer them GI products, even though they had said they did not want them to.
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Paul Fincham, senior media relations officer at Halifax, admitted that while it wasn’t policy to check every case, it did occasionally speak to the client if there were concerns over the level of cover.
“While it is not policy to check every case, it is policy to occasionally check if they have appropriate insurance. I imagine this is what has happened here and it may have been a handful of cases for that particular intermediary where we needed to check if they had the appropriate buildings insurance.”
Robertson also admitted his frustration that he had lost a number of clients in recent weeks because Halifax had a better direct deal than was available through intermediary channels.
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According to Robertson, for a client looking for a short-term fix at 97 per cent loan-to-value, the best deal an intermediary could get is a two-year fix at 6.19 per cent. But a client going direct to the branch could get a three-year fix at 5.69 per cent.
He said: “I’ve had to tell several clients to go straight to them because as an intermediary I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t tell them to go direct. I put in a lot of work to help the client get the best deal but I’m having to walk away.”
Fincham insisted intermediaries were at the heart of Halifax’s business and said the difference between product ranges was down to the specific requirements of each sector.
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“On occasion, we will offer specific products in either channel based on what our colleagues are telling us they want, whether they are in the branches or one of our intermediaries. These will be tailored to what they have asked for so while our ranges are similar, there will occasionally be differences.”
