Speaking to Mortgage Solutions, Thompson said its decision to leave the much criticised scheme came after the Santander-owned lender increased scrutiny on each application.
L&G members already obtain enough evidence to do a traditional application and so the move won’t bar advisers from the lender’s products.
“We have done this quite simply because we now see no clear customer or adviser benefit in remaining involved in Fastrack with AFI [Abbey for Intermediaries].
“Equally our ARs fully prepare all mortgage submissions so there is no additional workload placed on them through this change. They are all experienced in this market so should not find this a problem in any way.
“In terms of AFI and how it is running Fastrack, I am clear that they are keeping it available as they wish to be supportive to the market for as long as they can, and this has to be applauded, in some ways.
“Given the requirements to be operating this responsibly from a regulatory viewpoint I can fully appreciate why they apply the strict monitoring that they do and this is their decision.
“From our point of view Fasttrack has always worked well and we have never had any problems with it, however, in view of the increased focus on this, and the stringent application of some of the rules around it, we see no advantage to be gained for remaining part of this.”
Steve Biggs, adviser at APH mortgages, had used the fast-track but said that it would make little difference to his day-to-day dealings.
“I agree with L&G Network’s decision. We have always worked our cases fully and this decision now means we can never be caught out if we are misled by a client. Our only concern is application speed could increase.”Mortgage Intelligence has confirmed that it is no longer using Santander’s fast-track facility.
Mortgage Intelligence Holdings, parent company of Mortgage Intelligence and Mortgage Next confirmed it stopped using the system on 1 May.
