The lender has been accused of giving misleading messages in regard to how good its rates are when many argue better rates are offered by lenders such as Kensington Mortgages, GMAC-RFC and Platform.
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For example, on a self-cert two-year fixed rate mortgage, Victoria offers 75 per cent loan-to-value (LTV) at 5.99 per cent, while Platform offers a similar product at 5.84 per cent and Kensington at 5.89 per cent. In fact across the LTV range, Victoria is constantly beaten apart from on 90 per cent LTV, where its rate of 6.37 per cent is 0.02 lower than Kensington’s 6.39 per cent. Platform offers a lower rate of 6.19 per cent but with a £695 fee attached.
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Although Kensington’s 90 per cent equivalent is 0.02 per cent higher, all Kensington’s other rates are lower but it is positioned lower than Victoria in the table. Its arrangement fee is also £795 compared to Victoria’s £995.
In the published non-conforming rates, Victoria places itself at the top of the table across the LTV bands on the basis that it is lower than 90 per cent. In the case of the near-prime self-cert two-year fix at 75 per cent LTV, Victoria offers a rate of 6.15 per cent with a £995 fee, while lower rates and fees are offered by four other lenders.
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Alex Forrester, managing director at Victoria, said: “I object to the term ‘misleading’ – what we’ve done with our material is be very frank. On the rate comparison table we showed the rate as of the 8 May and we agree that we’re not the cheapest but we feel we are better priced.
“We set ourselves out to be a low-cost operator and offer the best rates and lowest fees that we can sensibly operate at.”
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