Bill Warren, network director of Complete Mortgage & Loan Services, said the call comes amid growing industry concern that certain lenders are ill-prepared for the necessary technical changes to provide FSA-complaint Key Facts Illustrations (KFIs).
“There seems to be last minute jitters from the market at the moment and it makes me wonder if some lenders have even read the rules properly,” said Warren. “What brokers need now is reassurance from all the lenders that they will have the correct infrastructure in place, in plenty of time for ‘Mortgage Day’.”
Michael Bolton, director of mortgages at HBOS-subsidiary BM Solutions, also called into question some lenders preparations.
“We have worked hard to ensure that our systems were ready months before they had to be,” he said.
However Bolton went on to say he was aware of lenders who had only recently begun preparations to ensure KFIs were penny perfect, as stipulated in the FSA rules. He said: “Some lenders have decided to try and do all their business in the first half of the year so they can concentrate on regulation in the second half but I think they have left themselves a mountain to climb.”
Alistair Pate, director of marketing and strategy at Kensington Mortgages, agreed: “It is likely that someone will get caught out, which is why we started work on this well over a year ago.”
The FSA has ruled out any time extensions for lenders who can’t get their systems up and running in time. FSA, spokesman Robin Gordon-Walker, said: “If lenders are having problems then they should talk to us so we can help them.”
