According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders top ten lenders only offer 27 of 250 top deals, a mere 11%.

Julia Harris, mortgage expert at Moneyfacts.co.uk, said: It is shocking to see that so few of the top priced mortgage deals are offered by the largest mortgage lenders. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group under the brands of First Active and Direct Line lead the way offering a meager six out of the top 250 deals, and very disappointingly the largest lender the HBOS group, did not appear at all.

Despite the vast amount of information in the public domain and the still prominent role of the financial adviser, brand and high street values still seem to be winning customers.