HSBC has reinstated its residential and buy-to-let new business products for a limited time only.
The high street heavyweight said it would notify brokers when these products need to be removed from sale.
It follows on from Clydesdale Bank temporarily pulling all its new business deals – it will be returning to the market on Tuesday 13th June.
HSBC drew the ire of brokers yesterday after it withdrew its product range. There have been calls for lenders to agree to a 24-hour mortgage withdrawal pledge following on from the events of the past fortnight.
While some lenders have come out in support of the pledge trade body IMLA cautioned that such a move would not be possible for some lenders.
While Robert Sinclair of AMI said it would be “helpful if lenders could commit to try to give 24 hours’ notice”. Mpowered Mortgages made such a pledge earlier today.
In response to the return of HSBC Aaron Strutt, product and communications director at Trinity Financial, said: “HSBC has been receiving a huge amount of mortgage applications mainly because it has been offering cheaper rates than many of its competitors.
“The market is in a really difficult position with the constant changes over the past two weeks.
“These funding pressures are putting lenders, brokers and borrowers in really awkward situations.”
Katy Eatenton, mortgage & protection specialist at Lifetime Wealth Management, meanwhile had this to say: “This was a wonderful call to receive today. They reinstated products for brokers that couldn’t get on to submit applications yesterday due to the website crashing.
“However, the information wasn’t panelled out to everyone until this afternoon and I think once their funds have been utilised they will shut up shop again.
“Clydesdale have similar criteria to HSBC in accepting salary and profits for self-employed directors, so it’s no surprise that they would have been inundated today and therefore need to reprice too.”
Riz Malik, founder & director at R3 Mortgages and one of the brokers behind the 24-Hour Mortgage Pledge, concluded: “I would like to think HSBC has seen the momentum of the 24-hour mortgage pledge that the mortgage community is backing and realised the errors of their ways.
“However, I cannot recall a time a lender pulled products and then reinstated them within 24 hours. For the sake of consumers, lenders need to commit to giving 24 hours notice of product withdrawals.”
