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West Brom closes specialist lender
West Bromwich Building Society is to close its second charge mortgage lender White Label Loans.
The specialist lending arm of the mutual informed brokers today (19 November) that it is closing its doors "for the foreseeable future" and said that the website will be closed for new credit agreements from Friday 21 November.
Existing pipeline has to be received and completed by 12 December 2008.
Kam Sanghani, managing director of White Label Loans said that the current market conditions had led to today’s announcement with the business being left with no alternative but to suspend operations.
He explained: "The last twelve months have been difficult but satisfying especially in seeing the establishment of this business and I would like to take this opportunity to thank [brokers] for [their] support."
The closure of White Label will leave limited options for secured loan brokers that have already seen their panels reduce by around 75 per cent.
This latest departure from the second charge market will certainly push many more specialist intermediaries over the edge, especially those reliant on access to White Label products.
Many have diversified into debt consolidation or debt management to try and make ends meet, but the number of closures business continues to escalate.
White Label Loans joins a host of second charge mortgage lenders that have exited the market, including Firstplus, Future Mortgages and Lehmans-owned Southern Pacific Personal Loans.
