Tenet launches direct-to-lender second charge panel

Five lenders have joined the direct panel initially: Masthaven Secured Loans, Precise Mortgages, Paragon Personal Finance, Shawbrook Bank and Step One Finance. More are expected to follow as they develop the capability to take direct business.

The move gives advisers the option to go direct to the lenders on panel, passing them more control over the advice process and customer journey. Tenet is one of the first networks to take this step. It follows concern over the differing fees paid on second charge mortgages.

TenetLime managing director Gemma Harle (pictured) said the company will retain its specialist second charge panel as well. “We have a number of firms who have the skills and desire to deal direct with the lenders on panel – these tend to be firms who have kept seconds in their scope and are therefore providing the advice to their clients.

“Brokers who have excluded seconds from scope and just want to introduce will still use master brokers as the master brokers are able to take responsibility for advice. There will also be occasions where master brokers have exclusive products or access to lenders not available in the direct panel and we would expect our brokers to use master brokers in these circumstance to ensure their client is provided with the most suitable protect for their needs,” she said.

Tenet has worked with existing partner, Mortgage Brain, to develop TenetLoansBrain, a bespoke version of the LoansBrain secured loans sourcing website to handle sourcing for the direct panel. This will be available to members free of charge.

Harle added: “We hope that the launch of our direct-to-lender second charge panel will bring some real competition into the second charge market, making second charge a more cost effective option for our advisers to consider when their customer is considering a remortgage with capital raising or a further advance. We will be expanding our panel as more lenders develop their capability to take business direct from brokers.”

Tenet supported firms to retain their independent status under the Mortgage Credit Directive (MCD) and approximately 70% of firms affected have chosen this option post-MCD, with the expectation that this figure may now increase.

While Harle said it is difficult to predict what the split between direct-to-lender second charge mortgages and those using the panel, she said Tenet expects to see the market “continuing to evolve and becoming more aligned with the first charge mortgage market”.