In light of the Halifax and Nationwide limiting access to their Help to Buy (HTB) equity share scheme to First Time Buyers only, Mansfield Building Society has confirmed that it continues to support Help to Buy through the intermediary market for First Time Buyers and those seeking to use the scheme to move up the housing ladder.

The mutual has also increased procuration fees for brokers on all residential mortgages to 0.35% and 0.4% for buy-to-let, with no maximum cap.

The Mansfield believes that with lenders such as Halifax and Nationwide restricting access will mean that more attention will turn on smaller lenders who will continue to support the scheme fully.

Stuart Bryce, business development manager, said the focus has been on larger lenders shouldering much of the distribution for the Help to Buy scheme but that brokers should be aware that The Mansfield continues to offer first and second time buyers access to what is proving to be an important facility.

He said: “While the headlines show larger lenders beginning to restrict access to Help to Buy, The Mansfield is fully committed to the scheme. We value the relationships we are building with the broker market.

“From the increasing volumes we are receiving post Mortgage Market Review, it is clear that our underwriting stance based exclusively on human underwriters, rather than relying on a computerised credit score model, is gaining us a lot of new friends and more importantly, satisfied customers.”