Commercial First gets £40m cash injection from Lloyds TSB

Commercial First has successfully refinanced its business with a £40m three year working capital facility from Lloyds TSB.
The investment complements the additional £12m in shareholder equity raised in December and May.
The working capital facility together with the equity raising has enabled the business to secure long term stability after it was forced it to temporarily [...]

The Leeds appoints new head of marketing

Carolyn Holroyde has been appointed as head of marketing at Leeds Building Society.
Carolyn started her career with Leeds Permanent Building Society on savings product development and pricing before moving on to manage the marketing of savings and banking products at HBOS. Prior to leaving HBOS in 2000, she was responsible for developing a customer profitability [...]

Loanoptions in referral deal with TCF Debt Solutions

A new debt management service is being offered to intermediaries and their clients by Loanoptions.co.uk
Under the Enhanced Declines Procedure, when secured loans applications on behalf of clients are declined or do not meet the required figure for debt consolidation, intermediaries will be given the opportunity to have their clients referred to TCF Debt Solutions for [...]

Evaluate offers technology to smaller lenders

Evaluate Technologies is offering lenders an online trading platform which it claims is at a fraction of the cost usually associated with such technologies.
By adapting the technology it built for the intermediary market, Evaluate is now offering smaller lenders a low cost system.
Brokers or consumers accessing the lender’s website will be able to submit an [...]

HBOS £500m landmark deal is first securitisation for year

HBOS has completed the first public UK Residential Mortgage-Backed Securitisation (RMBS) since the liquidity squeeze took hold of the market last July.
The £500m RMBS deal will provide the first ray of hope that the UK mortgage market is on the road to recovery.
HBOS says the securitisation is from its Permanent Master trust programme and is made [...]

Dual pricing is just a phase, says Wyles

Nationwide non-retail executive director Matthew Wyles says the strategy of lenders undercutting brokers is only a phase and will not last.
He says Nationwide is offering cheaper rates through its branches because of funding constraints but says when these ease, it will change its policy. Wyles says: “To be honest, we are not doing that much [...]

AMI says regulator is shifting status stance

The Association of Mortgage Intermediaries has slammed the FSA for changing its rules on mandatory disclosure of status amid turbulent market conditions.
Director general Chris Cummings says Aifa is very concerned about the content of the speech made by FSA head of mortgage and credit unions Jonathan Fischel last week at the Mortgage Business Expo where [...]

Asda moving into mortgage market

Asda is looking to move into the mortgage market and is conducting a tender to find a mortgage broker for outsourcing business.
Three brokers have put in offers, one of which is understood to be Mortgage Force.
Asda customers will be directed to the chosen broker for whole of market advice. It will work in a similar [...]

Advisers uncertain how to prove TCF

A large number of advisers are uncertain about what the FSA wants from them to evidence TCF principles, according to a study by 1st – The Exchange. The firm says the findings are concerning, particularly with the FSA’s deadline for full implementation just seven months away.
A poll of financial advisers found 46% were confused or [...]

Broker censured for misleading promotions

The FSA has publicly censured London-based Mortgageland Limited for poor financial promotions, and inadequate sales and record keeping. The firm has already been provided with external compliance advice in the past, but had still failed to deal with its problems.
The regulator found that the firm had made financial promotions which were misleading, and did not [...]