Mortgage lenders pulling out of the market or limiting distribution

by Aaron Strutt

Mar 27 2020

Britain’s biggest banks and building societies have pulled hundreds of mortgage products as they struggle to process applications.  

Some lenders have taken drastic steps to reduce the number of applications they receive by capping the number of mortgages they provide each day or withdrawing their higher loan-to-value products.   

Over the few days Halifax, BM Solutions and Family Building Society have withdrawn all their mortgages above 60% loan-to-value, while Barclays, NatWest, and TSB have withdrawn large chunks of their product ranges. Smaller lenders like Together and West Brom have temporarily stopped lending. 

Earlier this week, HSBC, Santander, NatWest, Metro Bank, and Scottish Widows stopped providing tracker rate mortgages to ensure they would not have to fund sub-1% rates. Thankfully, Barclays still has a 0.84% two-year tracker for mortgages up to £500,000. Applicants will need a 40% deposit to qualify and there is a £999 arrangement fee. The APRC is 3.8%.

Aaron Strutt, product director at Trinity Financial, says: “Data published by Moneyfacts shows that 552 residential mortgages have been withdrawn in the last two weeks which is equivalent to 10% of the total mortgage market.” 

Call Trinity Financial on 020 7016 0790