Platform withdraws self-cert mortgages

Thursday, 05 November 2009 12:00

Platform, the last major self-certification lender, is withdrawing from the market following the Financial Services Authority's (FSA) review.

The Co-operative Bank's intermediary lender was one of the last in a market that has gradually contracted since the credit crunch hit and will no longer offer the product after the end of this week.

Self-certification mortgages allowed customers to confirm their own income, rather than have to go through checks by the lender, which would often leave the self-employed or commission earners struggling to borrow.

But self-cert mortgages had also made a reputation for giving some consumers access to more cash than they could afford to pay back, leading the FSA to propose scrapping them altogether.

David Tweedy, managing director at Platform, said: "The FSA Mortgage Market review paper has shown that continuing to offer self certification mortgages in its current format is unfeasible and after careful deliberation of the paper, Platform has now taken the decision to withdraw from the self certification market.

"We understand the FSA's concerns around income verification and fully support its aims to improve transparency in the industry.

"However, we continue to believe that the industry must recognise that self employed people can have different circumstances and may not always be able to provide the normal proof of income documentation required."

Platform's withdrawal leaves just Beacon Homeloans offering the product.

"Regulation of the self-certification market is a very good thing but blanket banning will remove a perfectly good option for legitimate buyers," warned Katie Tucker, technical manager for Mortgage Force.

Platform said it would continue to support self-employed people and will now work to develop new products that will meet the FSA's guidelines.

Existing customers will not be affected by the withdrawal on November 6th, and their accounts will continue to run as normal, the lender added.

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