Inter Alliance’s (IA) mortgage club, The Mortgage Alliance, currently only available to IA members, is considering a roll out to the wider market when Financial Services Authority (FSA) regulation begins. The club, which has also announced an upgrade to the services it offers, includes the Inter Alliance Mortgage Advisory Service, paying a procuration fee of an average £250 for name and contact number, for intermediaries who do not want to process mortgage business.
Commenting, John Whitehead, technical manager at Norwich Union, said: ‘A number of IFAs advising on mortgages as part of a general business will be driven out of the market after regulation, so I expect there will be a fair amount of business for this type of service, but there will be a lot of competition offering this type of service in future.’
The club has not decided whether to offer principal or appointed representative status to intermediaries advising on mortgages. Stuart Wilson, mortgage development director at Inter Alliance, noted regulation was currently at a ‘bare bones’ stage.
He said: ‘We do not want to make false promises based on the FSA, which has not committed fully to its requirements. We do not want to go to the market now and then back-track in eight months because we have not been able to cost properly. We have all the component parts in place and it would not be a sea change to launch into the wider market. We look at the present as a form of pilot, but with 1,300 Inter Alliance IFAs.’
The Mortgage Alliance has also increased its panel from 20 lenders to 31 and added its first three packagers. Another six lenders will be added in the next two months. Wilson said: ‘We are facilitating a complete service in readiness for next year. We have upgraded many services. General insurance is offered through CETA with enhanced terms and there is a non regulated life and critical illness offering.’
