Legal & General Mortgage Club has announced a number of measures to support its members in light of the Covid-19 outbreak, to help mitigate the unprecedented impact it is having on the mortgage market and wider economy.

To ensure advisers can keep their businesses running as smoothly as possible as the mortgage industry responds to the coronavirus crisis, the club has announced the following:

1. Legal & General Mortgage Club will continue to provide its unique payment offering for members. Procuration fees will still be paid on exchange and ahead of completion, helping to ease any financial pressures and removing exposure to any potential volatility around completion dates. Advisers that are a member of the free ClubHub system will also still be able to claim their proc fees online.
2. The Mortgage Support Services (MSS) team will also remain on hand to help advisers with any queries they have on client cases over the phone or via the Live Chat tool on the Mortgage Club website. Legal & General has invested heavily in technology and advanced security in recent years and the MSS team is fully capable of fulfilling their roles while working from home. Advisers will therefore see no change from their point of view when contacting MSS. Legal & General Mortgage Club’s SmatrCriteria tool, which helps advisers to find the best mortgage solution for their clients’ circumstances, will also continue to operate 24/7 and remains free to use for the remainder of 2020.

The safety of Legal & General Mortgage Club’s colleagues, members and business partners is a priority and as a result the business has made a number of further changes.

1. In line with government guidance, all remaining Spring Roadshows in March have been cancelled to assist with efforts to prevent the continued spread of coronavirus. Legal & General Mortgage Club’s April and May roadshows remain scheduled to go ahead, but the situation will be closely monitored and a decision will be made in the coming weeks as to whether the events will go ahead. Any cancelled events will be re-scheduled for Autumn and all delegates will be notified in advance.
2. For the Club’s field-based relationship managers, face to face meetings will only take place when absolutely necessary and where all parties are symptom free, not self-isolating and happy to go ahead. The relationship managers will continue to be contactable by phone and email during normal business hours, while Legal & General Mortgage Club’s Agency Enquiries Helpline will still be able to quickly assist with any proc fee and general commission enquiries by email.

Kevin Roberts, director of Legal & General Mortgage Club, said: “These are clearly unprecedented times and I want to take the opportunity to reach out to our members about what Legal & General Mortgage Club is doing to help keep advisers’ businesses running as smoothly as possible.

“We have invested heavily in technology in recent years and this means we are well placed to continue to operate a business as usual approach in many cases. Advisers will still find they are easily able to contact our Mortgage Support Services team and use systems like SmatrCriteria and ClubHub to help with their clients’ mortgage applications and the payment of proc fees.

“At the same time, we are supporting the efforts to tackle the spread of coronavirus in our society and that is why we have taken the decision to cancel our March Spring Roadshows.

“I am confident that the mortgage market will remain resilient and I want to reassure members that as one of the oldest mortgage clubs in the UK and a wider business that has 100 years of sustainability under its belt, we are here to stay and will continue to do what we can to support you in these challenging times.”