Is it still too easy to ignore second charge?

Wheeldon says that although the reasons for advising a client to accept a second charge loan are "very clear and easily assimilated when they are introduced as part of a broader based discussion on capital raising", regulatory endorsement alone "was never going to persuade advisers to adopt secured loans right off the bat".

He agrees that seconds will never be a straight substitute for remortgaging and that many brokers felt "that they were being railroaded".

Wheeldon continued: "I think there is still resistance to the concept that remortgaging might be the wrong advice. Most of that is based on three main factors. A past perception of secured loans, a view of costs that does not actually bear proper scrutiny and an understandable reluctance to try a sector with which they are unfamiliar.

"Therefore, that does mean that there are customers going into a remortgage who would have been better served by a secured loan. Those clients could be at a disadvantage on many levels including an extended length of term they did not want for the extra borrowing, a compulsory change to C&I repayment and seeing their monthly costs increase or the loss of a good long term rate on their existing mortgage, among others.

"Changing attitudes to secured loans were never likely to happen overnight, but I believe we are making headway, just not as quick as I think the situation demands.”