With the costs of regulation being seen in real terms and some firms facing up to low business volumes, it appears that many brokerages are re-considering their stance on fees.
Andy Frankish, operations director at Mortgage Talk, said: “We are looking at introducing a fee. We are a regulated professional organisation, there is no reason why we shouldn’t charge for our services.
“The figure would be far from obscene and may help with the cost and time incurred with regulation.”
Andy Pratt, chief operating officer at Alexander Hall, said: “We introduced the option of a fee on 1 November in order to be able to call ourselves independent. I expect larger brokers to take a larger market share with more shared exclusives with lenders.”
However Mark Chilton, chief executive officer at Purely Mortgages, said he expects the 2005 product mix to be dominated by discounted base rate trackers with fee-free products and brokers being ‘flavour of the year’.
He commented: “The real winners will be fee-free brokers with people looking to keep remortgage costs as low as possible. We feel that we are in a strong position and have no plans to change tack.”
James Cotton, mortgage specialist at London & Country, said: “The broker community is debating their positions in charging fees. We are committed to providing fee-free advice for the whole of the market.
“The cost of regulation will soon be seen for real and some brokers may need to introduce fees to gain extra revenue.”
