TCF (Treating Customers Fairly) Lender Forum

Background

The TCF lender Forum was established in November 2005 as a result of a shared desire by mortgage lenders to work together on this extremely important and non-competitive area of business. It is supported by the CML and managed by Frank Eve Consulting Limited.

Background information

The FSA expects all firms to have embedded TCF principles into all parts of their business and has indicated that they will be assessing intermediary firms over the next 2 years to ensure this has been done.

The CML was concerned that the reputation of the lending industry could be at risk as a result of poor compliance by intermediaries and therefore in October 2007 facilitated the move to make the Forum an industry initiative.

The vision for Forum is:-

1. To set the standard for Best Practice in TCF for the intermediary mortgage industry through the free website www.tcfinfo.co.uk
2. To provide a forum for lenders to discuss TCF issues in respect of Sales & Marketing and Arrears & Possessions
3. Provide a communication channel for the FSA and lenders to discuss the practicalities of embedding TCF principles

The TCF Lender Forum website www.tcfinfo.co.uk

In June 2006 the TCF Lender Forum launched a free website offering practical guidance to mortgage intermediaries on how to implement the FSA principle of Treating Customers Fairly. TCF Info (www.tcfinfo.co.uk) offers plain English tips, tools and templates for own-branding. The site receives 18,000+ visits a months and has 6500 registered users who receive regular updates.

The Steering Group

The Forum has established a Steering Group which is responsible for

• agreeing content for www.tcfinfo.co.uk
• producing a proactive marketing plan for the site
• developing the Forum’s activities in line with the needs of the lender members

Sales & Marketing Meetings

At an early stage the Steering Group recognised the value in bringing together key personnel from Sales & Marketing functions to see how lenders could promote www.tcfinfo.co.uk more actively. These meetings often have representation and input from the FSA to give guidance and clarity to the FSA strategy & direction. Increasingly, these meetings are used as an effective forum to discuss wider TCF issues.

Arrears & Repossessions Meetings

In early 2009 the Forum held its first Arrears and Repossession meeting. The purpose of which is to improve collection procedures through the sharing of experience and development of ‘best practice’ in the industry. As the FSA has confirmed that TCF and lender arrears and repossession procedures will be a major focus for their activity in 2009, these meeting provide an effective forum for lenders to share experiences in a confidential and non competitive environment. These meetings are also attended by representation from the FSA offering lenders the opportunity to questions and clarify the FSA’s current thinking.

Regulation Discussion Group

In the light of the FSA’s announcement to review mortgage regulation, the Forum agreed to hold meetings specifically to discuss what ‘ Outcome based regulation’ would look like for the mortgage market. These are high-level discussions with lender representatives who are responsible ‘the customer experience’ across all channels and products, Direct and Intermediary.

Benefits for Lenders

• Lenders themselves are seen to be embracing TCF principles through sponsorship of the campaign, website and Intermediary education programme.
• A dedicated, impartial website means Intermediaries are more likely to understand and follow TCF principles - the information is tailored to their needs and easy to access when they need it and presented in a user-friendly format.
• A neutral platform removes the fear of losing business to the ‘competition’ - Intermediaries won’t perceive that any one lender is trying to ‘regulate’ their activity, and so feel inclined to take business elsewhere.
• By pooling resources the activities are cost effective.
• Lenders can use the sales & marketing and arrears & repossession meetings to exchanges experiences and best practice.
• The FSA can communication direct to the group through presentations on topics of interest.

Lender Responsibilities

Lenders agree to provide the following support:

• Provide representation at Forum sales & Marketing and arrears & repossession meetings if required.
• Ensure that the existence of the Forum website and activities are communicated and promoted to their intermediaries
• Provide a qualified member to contribute to proposed new content on the website if necessary

Current Member Brands

• Abbey
• Accord
• Alliance & Leicester
• Barclays
• Beacon Homeloans
• Bradford & Bingley
• C&G
• Capital Home Loans
• First Active
• First National
• GE Money Home Lending
• GMAC-RFC
• I Group
• Kensington Mortgage
• Money Partners
• Mortgage Express
• Mortgage Trust
• Mortgages plc
• Natwest
• Nationwide
• Northern Rock
• Paragon
• Platform
• Principality Building Society
• The Mortgage Works
• The One Account
• The Royal Bank of Scotland
• UCB
• West Bromwich BS
• Woolwich

Enquiries

Click here to link with www.tcfinfo.co.uk

If you're a lender and would like to support the TCF Info initiative, please contact us at enquiries@frankeveconsulting.co.uk