The launch of the government scheme was brought forward by Prime Minister David Cameron at the weekend, but only state-backed lenders Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland had committed to launch products until this point.
Aldermore has now pledged to join the scheme after its head of mortgages Charles Haresnape (pictured) confirmed its plans to an audience at the Financial Services Expo in London.
Haresnape said the lender was still preparing for a January 1 launch, despite lenders being able to make loans under the scheme from as early as next week.
“Aldermore will be involved in the scheme, it’s just a question of what the date is,” he said.
“It’s a real shame [the early announcement] because we were working towards January 1. The very politicised statements and reasons for bringing it forward are a shame because it made it like this has been a knee jerk when it shouldn’t have been.
“We won’t be warehousing because we need time to get our systems in place but we are geared up towards a January 1 date, but if we can bring it forward we will.”
Haresnape later confirmed that the lender would look to offer products to up to 95% LTV but did express concern that the scheme may not tackle supply side issues in the housing market.
“It’s yet another demand/credit led initiative, ignoring the supply side,” he added.
Mortgage Solutions revealed today how RBS and NatWest will only offer Help to Buy mortgage guarantee products through direct channels from launch, before expanding to intermediaries later in the year.
