The lender said the “incredibly buoyant property market” was impacting all lenders, and that it was seeing “increasing levels of interest” for its product ranges, especially specialist products, which impacted service levels.
The mutual continued that all existing applications would be processed as agreed, and registered brokers had been given an additional 24 hours’ notice to submit completed applications.
Saffron Building Society added that it would still honour its self-build summer campaign, where it lowered rates and reduced fees for self-build products.
The lender said brokers should check the lender’s website for regular updates and contact the intermediary support team regarding new self-build enquiries.
Tony Hall (pictured), head of mortgage sales at Saffron Building Society, said: “All lenders are here to provide the best service possible for brokers and their clients. In recent weeks, as other lenders started to temporarily pause mortgages, we have seen an upward trend in applications that is putting pressure on our service levels.
“At Saffron, the service we deliver to our brokers is paramount and we are at the stage where this incredible level of interest is impacting applications that have already been submitted. So, today we have made the decision to temporarily pause new applications to allow us to concentrate on providing the best possible service to those applications that are already being processed.”
He continued: “There was no way to predict this level of interest and although every action has been taken to mitigate the impact to brokers and clients, we needed to take further steps in support of those who have clients awaiting applications already submitted.
“We know how difficult this period is for brokers, and we want to reassure you this is a temporary measure to release the pressure and allow our teams to get back to the levels of service you are used to from us. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their patience and understanding at this time.”
Hall continued that its “number one priority” was to improve service across the aboard and results had been “positive”.
The mutual launched Intermediar-ease in May, an initiative that aims to provide “openness and transparency around service”, due to the firm’s commitment to improve services for brokers and their clients.
It is the latest lender to pause new mortgage applications, with Cambridge Building Society taking similar action earlier this week, along with Coventry Building Society earlier today.
Hodge also temporarily closed to new business across all new mortgage ranges in June. It re-entered the residential mortgage market with 50 plus residential, retirement interest-only (RIO) and holiday let mortgages in July.
