How are operations changing as the merger gets underway?
Darin Landon: It is business as usual and everyone’s on target for full-integration of the lending arms under the Coventry Intermediaries banner by late 2011. We have announced some new products, including two new best buy products from Godiva Mortgages. These are a 2 year fix at 2.99% and a 2 year flex for term loans at 2.75%, with no tie-ins, which should both do well. Both are offered up to 50% LTV with application fees of £800 and a £199 booking fee and should attract volume business.
How do you plan to integrate In the Loop, Stroud and Swindon’s intermediary lending arm, and Coventry’s specialist arm Godiva Mortgages?
DL: Coventry Intermediaries is a well-proven proposition and we want to build on that. So, we will continue to service all existing customers under their existing brand but we will be using Coventry Intermediaries to acquire new mortgage business from 1 September.
We will have two brands – Godiva and Coventry Intermediaries – rather than three from September and In The Loop won’t take on any new business.
Coventry Intermediaries is the name of our intermediary arm which includes two brands – Coventry Building Society and Godiva Mortgages.
Godiva and Coventry are managed separately from each other but share SVRs and privileged rates. We will be able to vary the products by fees, LTV, initial period, interest rate type etc. so the key for us it that it allows greater flexibility in our approach to the market. The service proposition will be exactly the same.
Coventry has a strong record for intermediaries, including a promise it will not have dual price. Are you still offering those commitments?
DL: We have a strong reputation for being broker-friendly and there will be no change to that because want to assist brokers. We have ambitions and intermediaries are key to our growth plans and that relationship has always stood us in good stead.
Coventry will no longer lend interest-only loans to first-time buyers. Why?
DL: We made a separate announcement on this recently and as a responsible lender, we want brokers to make sure borrowers can afford to repay their loans. Other lenders have done the same and it is a matter of keeping an eye on it.
Coventry Intermediaries’ pledges to the broker market:
- No overhanging ERCs
- No differential pricing between channels
- All products available to existing customers
- All direct mortgage products available to intermediaries
- No cross-selling to your clients
- At least two working days’ notice of product withdrawal
