MortgagesOct 17 2018

NatWest raises procuration fee to £10k

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NatWest raises procuration fee to £10k

 NatWest has increased the procuration fee paid to brokers across its mortgage range.

As part of a six month pilot the lender has increased its maximum procuration fee for residential, buy-to-let and product transfers from £6,000 to £10,000.

NatWest said the changes followed broker feedback and applied to new applications submitted from Monday 15 October.

A NatWest spokesperson said: "We constantly review our proposition to ensure we are in line with the market.

"We recently implemented an increase to our maximum procuration fee in response to feedback from brokers who had been asking for this for some time."

But Sebastian Riemann, financial consultant at Libra Financial Planning, believes the impact will be minimal.

He said: "By my calculations this will affect residential loans in excess of £1.7m and buy to let loans over £1.3m. Product transfers would need to be at a whooping £3m for it to have an impact.

"I am not sure who would have raised concerns around this, but at a guess it will only affect a minute percentage of brokers in the United Kingdom.

"Surely, in an uncertain market, and with so many other areas of concern, it would be better to look after the many as opposed to the few. The real winners will not be sitting in front of clients."

Mr Riemann suggested the wider procuration system may be due an overhaul.

He said: "This is not a vote winner, however procuration fees should be linked to quality or be levelled out so that they are the same for everyone.

"The only alternative, in my opinion, is to follow the line of financial advisers by removing procuration fees altogether."

He added: "Yes there would be losers in my back stop proposal, most notably those that need the advice the most, but if we cannot be adults about self-regulating the way we get paid then maybe it is time to take a different approach."

rachel.addison@ft.com