Alliance & Leicester (A&L) is reassessing its online strategy for intermediaries, and is looking to restructure its procuration rates for electronic submissions.
Currently A&L is offering an enhanced procuration fee of £125 for online applications for certain intermediaries. The move follows the recent appointment of Andrew Robinson as director of intermediaries. Robinson said: ‘At the moment there is a difference for our key accounts, and we are revisiting this whole area as part of our overall strategy for the intermediary channel.’
Robinson said he was looking for a way to differentiate those providing complete and accurate applications, and commented: ‘If we get applications submitted correctly they get the enhanced fee. If details are incorrect ‘ the valuation fee for example, which we require up front and then refund on completion, has to be paid by credit or debit card ‘ then we will not pay the enhanced fee.’
Robinson said A&L was talking to nine or 10 of its key accounts and hoped to have completed the research by the end of September. He said: ‘We are talking to them about a number of things such as our portfolio, service and procuration fees. The things that are important to both them and us.’
Andy Wilgoss, managing director of intermediary Square Mile, said: ‘We fully support and embrace the concept of online submission because there are several lenders at the moment which we already submit to ‘ such as Halifax. At the moment those lenders are not paying us enhanced procuration fees but they are letting us have better products.
‘With online submissions there is a lower cost for the lender as they are not keying in a paper application on receipt as it is being done by the intermediary. I think it is a logical step that lenders will offer enhanced procuration fees to encourage intermediaries to process the business this way.’
Robinson accepted online applications were cheaper to process. He said: ‘Part of the research is looking at the importance of product attributes such as price, online availability, service and procuration fees.’ Once the feedback has been received A&L will be looking at how best to combine them. Robinson added he hoped to have the new strategy for intermediaries in place by the end of the year.
