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The nation's fourth biggest building society, which launched its intermediary-focused lender Godiva Mortgages in March last year, made its pledge after other mainstream lenders told Mortgage Adviser they were unable to give the same guarantee.

In recent weeks Halifax, Woolwich, Nationwide and Abbey have come under fire for pricing direct products more competitively than those available to intermediaries.

Colin Franklin, managing director of Godiva Mortgages and head of sales for Coventry Building Society, said despite the credit crunch he would stick by a pledge he had made previously that the lender would not offer differential pricing between the direct and intermediary channel.

Mr Franklin said: "When we make a pledge we keep it and we have no intention of changing this."

Other lenders currently not dual pricing but unable to make the same commitment for the future included Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, Yorkshire Building Society, Chelsea Building Society, Skipton and Alliance & Leicester.

David Jervis, chairman of Astra Mortgages, the intermediary arm of Norwich & Peterborough, said: "We have offered level pricing between intermediaries and direct for a long time and occasionally we will offer an exclusive for intermediaries but it has been our policy to have a level pricing.

"We cannot promise that there will never been a different offer on each channel."

David Holmes, corporate affairs manager for Yorkshire Building Society, said while a cheaper five-year deal was being offered to intermediaries through its subsidary Accord Mortgages it could not guarantee such deals would remain.

He said: "We cannot make promises. Our decisions are based on risk, volume of business and taking into account that with Accord we have a no cross-sales policy."

Susie Ratcliffe, media and public relations officer for Chelsea Building Society, said: "In an ever changing market constantly reviewing all channels of your business is really important. We will continue to review all channels appropriately and can also confirm we have no current plans to offer different rates on like for like products."

Debbie Hughes, press manager for Alliance & Leicester, said it was impossible to make any promises in the current climate but was firmly committed to the intermediary market.

She said: "We could never guarantee that but we do not do dual pricing anyway. Our focus is on the intermediary market and we want to be able to work with them.

"They are key to our business and we do the majority of our mortgage lending through them so there is no way we would want to be upsetting them and it is not on our agenda to do so."

Jason Clarke, head of PR for Skipton Building Society, said the lender was striving to maintain a strong working relationship with advisers but could not rule anything out.

He said: "The market is in a state of flux, none of us can be 100 per cent sure for how long or what it will look like on the other side. So the phrase, 'never say never' will be on the lips of every lender.

"None can ignore its primary responsibility to its own branches and colleagues, irrespective of comments from some quarters. The difference with Skipton Intermediaries is that we are still out there doing what we can to keep those relationships going and we are still coming up with broker exclusives, whereas some lenders' intermediary sales managers seem to have gone to ground."

Sandra Grandison, corporate communications manager for Bristol & West Mortgages, said it had historically offered the same products through intermediary and direct channels.

But she said Bristol & West could not guarantee this approach would not change but it was not the lender's intention to change its position.

Alistair Welham, head of marketing for Salt, the intermediary arm of Derbyshire Building Society, said the two brands were very separate but took a similar approach to pricing for risk.

Julie Mazzei, PR and communications manager for Cheshire Building Society, said: "The society and many lenders have for a number of years provided different products across different channels and this is set to continue.

"This is due to different costs of product pricing and allows us to better manage a more limited mortgage range during the credit crunch."