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There really is no getting away from the issue of dual pricing at the moment. While there are some positive signs emerging from the market it remains difficult to say if dual pricing to the disadvantage of mortgage advisers is about to come to an end.

What we can be sure of is this practice has given rise to a great deal of general dissatisfaction among advisers. You only have to look through the letters pages in a variety of trade publications to realise this.

It has also been muted when this differential pricing is reduced, intermediaries may retain a long-term hit list and tend not to favour the lenders that appear to have been actively bypassing the intermediary market.

In reality this attitude towards lenders may only last a short time because advisers will want to find the best possible product for their clients and so will be unable to ignore market trends and customer needs if lenders have great products and service available and open to them.

I believe this attitude may simply be a frustrated reaction to current market conditions and, while being a somewhat justified reaction, the sheer professionalism possessed within our industry will mean it is likely such advisers will be few and far between.

Differential pricing is certainly an issue that has raised the ire of advisers but when matters settle down to some normality then I am sure in the long-term all parties will continue to act professionally for the benefit of the end consumer.

Phil Whitehouse is head of The Mortgage Alliance