THE Norwich Irish Building Society has joined the Irish Permanent in offering a direct mortgage service to customers who wish to arrange their homeloan by telephone.

As with the Irish Permanent scheme, the Norwich has set up a call centre where telesales staff will complete all the documentation by telephone and process the application. Customers will have to sign various forms that will be sent by post, but the direct method should cut down both on the amount of form filling and the turnaround time for the loan approval. The Norwich is offering an introductory offer of free mortgage protection cover up to an annual premium value of £150 and free general insurance up to a maximum annual premium of £90 for those borrowers who also opt for the societies `3 in 1' mortgage (which includes insurance cover and an automatic 0.5 per cent interest discount. Meanwhile, the Norwich Union General Insurance company which provides 95 per cent of all motorcycle insurance market has announced a number of changes:

. it is increasing its third party cover by 5 per cent outside Dublin and to 7.5 per cent in Dublin

. comprehensive rates go up by to per cent regardless of geographic location;

. a 10 per cent no claims rebate will be available for the first time for drivers who are claim free for at least one insurance year on a current policy;

. rider cover is being extended to bikes up to 1500cc from the previous cover restriction of 750 cc;

. comprehensive cover will now be available for all bikes with insured drivers who are aged 25 or over. A new maximum value of £10,000 will apply for new business;

. personal accident cover for pillion passengers to be automatically introduced at no extra charge on existing policies.