Blue Motor Finance has stopped all
broking activity, as of November. The Warrington-based company had
reverted to pure brokering activity in February of this year after
ceasing to write new near-prime motor finance business on its own
book, due to the significant problems in the global financial
market.

The business is being wound down, but with some staff retained
to collect on the existing book, said sales director, Peter
Critchley.

“The delinquency rate of our book was within the parameters we
had predicted; we had a great product, and a great distribution
set-up – in the end, the market changed, through no fault of our
own,” Critchley said. 

“Would I do it all over again? Yes, I would – and it would be
easier the second time round, as there would be a proven scorecard
and systems knowledge to draw on,” he added.

Merrill Lynch, the owners of the Blue book, will ultimately make
any decision relating to a possible sale of the loan portfolio,
Critchley said.

Blue’s decision to cease broking activity was precipitated by
British Credit Trust’s move to stop paying commission to its
brokers in September.

“It’s a real shame,” Critchley said. “In three years or so, I
think the situation for non-prime motor finance will have improved
substantially, and we will see a lot of the funders which exited
this market coming back in, but for now, the conditions just aren’t
right.”

Jo Tacon