“There is some thinking that now the market has seen the MMR the lending ‘pendulum’ could swing back the other way,” said Blackwell at the Mortgage Business Expo in London today.
Since the credit crunch 22% of all mortgage applications have been rejected by lenders and Blackwell said the regulator has had a steady stream of complaint letters from consumers accusing it of being responsible for those rejections.
“In fact, market conditions have played a large part in that,” she said.
“Commoditisation of the lending processes have also played their part in cautious lending over 2011, with lender processes becoming too large to allow individual underwriting,” she said.
Blackwell added the regulator was still very “concerned” about the execution-only sales side, adding action had been taken to make sure it wasn’t used for “gaming.”
“There are a number of hurdles in place to make sure lenders can offer evidence the customer has chosen not to take advice, even down the internet route, including signs telling customers they are losing protection,” she added.
“We will be monitoring execution-only and we will continue to take a great interest in it,” she said.
On Individual Registration, the regulator said, we remain committed to it and it will emerge after the FCA launches next year, but offered no timeline.
