In a recent announcement the Internet arm of HSBC bank stated that it would be restricting its mortgage lending activities by no longer offering mortgages to those that are not customers of the bank already. Customers of first direct will still be able to access mortgages from the lender even if they do not currently have a first direct mortgage, providing they meet the other eligibility criteria.

First direct is one of many banks and building societies that have had to restrict their lending over recent months as a result of the global credit crunch. Many have had to take various mortgage products off the shelves or have started to offer mortgages only to existing customers or those that live within a certain radius of the branch.

A first direct official said: “We’ve seen unprecedented demand for our mortgages since January thanks to our highly competitive pricing and the decision of other lenders to raise rates. As a result, we’re currently seeing applications running at five times our normal volumes.”

He added: “First Direct won its reputation for its amazing customer service and our first priority is to ensure we give all our customers the level of service they expect from us. The flood of interest in our mortgages has meant we’re taking longer than we’d like to handle applications, especially from non-customers. 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. I’d like to apologise to customers for any delays they may have experienced and give them my commitment that we’ll not rest until we’ve restored first direct’s normal standards of service. We’ve made arrangements for our parent company, HSBC, to make available a similar two-year fixed rate to non customers to help them with their mortgage needs in the meantime.”

Recent additions:

• Broker could be facing severe problems
• Financial difficulties loom for homeowners
• Interest rates on personal loans continue to rise
• Loans market still suffering due to credit crunch
• Avoiding risks with an unsecured personal loan

If you like this post why don't you subscribe to our feed?

Related Articles

• Lenders needs to be more careful on checking applicant information
A recent report has shown that a worrying number of lenders are failing to carry out important checks into the income of applicants that apply for unsecured finance, and there are concerns that this could
• Consider a credit union for your finance needs
Most people are only too aware of how difficult and expensive it has become to get any sort of finance these days, with the global credit crunch maintaining its grip on the UK money markets
• Overdraft popularity increases as loan accessibility is reduced
As many consumers will be only too aware accessibility to loans of any sort has become far more difficult over the past nine months, since the global credit crunch swept across the UK, wreaking havoc
• Middle classes now struggling with loan repayments
Whilst many people on lower incomes and bad credit have been struggling to meet loan and debt repayments for years, it seems that the global credit crunch has resulted in a new breed of consumers
• Should brokers have access to all mortgage deals?
One of the traditional ways of finding a suitable mortgage for many people in the UK over recent years has been to go through a broker. Many people who were keen to find the most