Investment Property News - Bueno Investments Limited

First Direct is to withdraw its mortgage range for new customers as other lenders raise their rates for existing ones.

The internet and telephone bank, which is owned by HSBC, said it is "taking a breather" after receiving five times the usual volume of applications in recent weeks.

NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland, part of the same group, and Kent Reliance Building Society became the first lenders this year to raise their variable mortgage rates for existing customers.

First Direct said the "unprecedented" level of business it is receiving meant it was taking longer to process applications than it would like. It added that it had decided to withdraw its range for people who were not already customers until it had cleared the backlog, rather than raise its rates in a bid to discourage borrowers.

First Direct chief executive Chris Pilling told reporters: "The flood of interest in our mortgages has meant we're taking longer than we'd like to handle applications, especially from non-customers.

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