At the end of their apprenticeship, they will take on roles as telephone business development managers.

Curran has held previous leadership roles at Countrywide, Bank of Scotland, HBOS and Lloyds.

1 in 10 found the process too daunting to apply or didn’t know enough about it.

The Rate Reducer mortgage gives the cashback often given to buyers by new-build developers back into the mortgage, lowering the interest rate.

The intermediary-only lender has reduced its £5k Deposit mortgage to 5.79% and reduced other rates by up to 0.55%.

The six existing phone numbers for broker queries are now being simplified to one number.

Nationwide is also the first major lender to offer a sub-5% rate on its standard range to those with a 5% deposit.

The Bank is withdrawing buy-to-let two-year tracker rates in the new business and product transfer ranges.

Two-year fixed rates now start from 4.02%.

The client is free to repay their lifetime mortgage in full at any point without incurring an ERC.