Speaking at the Moneyfacts Report launch, Ray Boulger, senior technical manager for John Charcol, claimed that some lenders were pulling products that offered good rates through intermediaries, but still allowing application through branches.
Speaking on whether this was a universal activity within the mortgage industry, Boulger said: “This is not across the board, lenders do not only deal with intermediaries or branches only but what has changed in the last few weeks is where balance sheet lenders have changed their offerings. Balance sheet lenders are not as dependant on the money markets and are able to offer better products.”
Taking Abbey as one example, Boulger claimed that it had pulled broker exclusive products from its large loans offering which had affected his firm.
Boulger said: “Abbey was offering two large loan London products and pulled one that offered £500,000 to £1 million and another that offered between £1-3 million.
"It pulled the former, which was very competitive, but I have no doubt that Abbey will come back as there is nothing to suggest that this is anything but a temporary move due to a pricing decision.”
Boulger further claimed that it was interesting that people were dealing with lenders directly rather than going through intermediaries. He also said lenders were doing this intentionally as they had more chances of cross-selling when dealing direct.
Boulger said: “It is a trend that has become more noticeable over the past few weeks but brokers have long memories and lenders may find them to be not so kind when the market comes back round.”
An Abbey spokesperson said: “We are committed to brokers, both providing competitive products and good service. The Abbey large loans pilot is an example of this.
"We have also recently removed some of our exclusives as a result of the high demand generated. Our desire is to ensure we are correctly priced to bring in a level of business that we can serve with full confidence that we will offer great service levels.”
