First Direct reopens its doors to 'non-customers'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.First Direct has started offering mortgages again to people who don't already have an account with the online and telephone bank.
It had called a halt to new home loans for "non-customers" on 1 April, after receiving five times its normal number of applications.
At the time, the bank said that it had taken the step so it could clear a backlog of mortgage applications and retain service standards.
"Last month, we took the bold decision to withdraw from mortgage sales to non- customers to allow us to process the huge number of enquiries we had received," said Chris Pilling, First Direct's chief executive. "We have now assessed all the loan applications outstanding from 1 April and earlier, and let everyone know the outcome."
First Direct was not the only lender to have found itself in this position. Several small building societies were swamped by people wanting to remortgage and, as a result, some took the same line as First Direct in only lending to customers who already held an account with them.
The backdrop to these shifts in policy is the continuing credit crunch, which is making it hard for lenders to raise money through the international money markets. This in turn means they have had to limit the number of new loans, as well as raising interest rates on many of their deals.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments