Over 500 brokers have registered to do business with The Mortgage Lender during its first week of operation.

The Mortgage Lender launched on 11 July and offers specialist mortgages exclusively through intermediaries, focusing on areas of the market that are currently underserved by High Street lenders.

Pete Thomson, sales and marketing director at The Mortgage Lender, said the launch has exceeded expectations. He said: “We’ve had a fantastic response to our launch. There have been more than 2,300 visits to our website, we’ve had our first decisions in principle, completed applications and registered around 500 brokers on our system.

“The reaction to the product range and pricing has also demonstrated that the work we did in advance of launch, researching the market and working with brokers to find out which segments of borrowers they felt were underserved, was time well spent.”

“The products are clear and competitive,” said Martin Reynolds, SimplyBiz Mortgages chief executive. “They will offer more choice and will enhance competition in certain key underserved areas of criteria.”

Bob Hunt, CEO of Paradigm Mortgages, added: “Similar lenders in this space are typically pricing at one per cent higher.”