Saffron Building Society will temporarily halt almost all new mortgage applications from 5pm today (4 August), because it is unable to cope with the high levels of demand.

The mutual says: “The increasing levels of interest in Saffron’s popular range of mortgages – especially specialist products – has caused an impact on service levels for brokers.”

It adds that all affected registered brokers have been contacted and provided an additional 24 hours’ notice to submit their completed applications.

Saffron Building Society head of mortgage sales Tony Hall says: “All lenders are here to provide the best service possible for brokers and their clients. In recent weeks, as other lenders started to temporarily pause mortgages, we have seen an upward trend in applications that is putting pressure on our service levels.

“At Saffron, the service we deliver to our brokers is paramount and we are at the stage where this incredible level of interest is impacting applications that have already been submitted. So, today we have made the decision to temporarily pause new applications to allow us to concentrate on providing the best possible service to those applications that are already being processed.”

Hall adds: “There was no way to predict this level of interest and although every action has been taken to mitigate the impact to brokers and clients, we needed to take further steps in support of those who have clients awaiting applications already submitted.

“We know how difficult this period is for brokers, and we want to reassure you this is a temporary measure to release the pressure and allow our teams to get back to the levels of service you are used to from us.”

The mutual says the pause does not affect the self-build mortgage range, and the firm will continue to honour its summer deal launched in July.