02-04-2008
First Direct confirms mortgage withdraw
News by Adfero for Simply Business - independent providers of public liability insurance, business finance, landlord insurance, buy-to-let mortgages & commercial mortgages.
HSBC subsidiary First Direct has confirmed a decision to stop offering new mortgages to non-customers.
The bank has confirmed that the decision has been taken as a consequence of rising demand for its mortgage products and that the decision to bar certain clients was taken instead of increasing the interest rates on its products.
Two other building societies, the Earl Shilton and the Bath, have already taken the decision to prevent non-customers from accessing its mortgage products.
"Rather than increase interest rates dramatically to discourage new applications, we've decided to withdraw temporarily from offering mortgages to non-customers until we've cleared the backlog," said Chris Pilling, chief executive of First Direct.
Mr Pilling also confirmed that the increase in customer interest has lengthened the amount of time it takes for applications to be processed.
Established in 1989, First Direct became part of HSBC in 1992 and has its headquarters in Leeds.