Some lenders remain firmly stuck in the dark ages when it comes to tech relying on paper-based systems which creates unnecessary drag on the mortgage process, brokers have warned.
Free UK news agency, Newspage, asked brokers which lenders, in their opinion, are pushing the boundaries of tech, and which are behind the curve when it comes to processing mortgage applications.
David Stirling, independent financial advisor at Mint Mortgages & Protection:
“As a Northern Ireland-based firm, we have access to some of the local building societies and banks. Progressive Building Society have only recently upgraded to an online system, but the one lender stuck firmly in the 1980s remains AIB. Requiring full paper application and a wet signature on the declaration and mandate, AIB are single-handedly destroying rain forests and keeping the Royal Mail afloat.”
Emma Jones, managing director at Whenthebanksaysno.co.uk:
“Some of the building societies that are struggling with service levels right now need to look at embracing tech. There’s no excuse given the lower levels of new business we have seen over the summer.
“Whilst high street lenders like Halifax are achieving offers in one day, the likes of Dudley Building Society are taking four months to offer cases, which borders on farce. Tech will save money, time and enhance the client and broker journey. It’s simple really.”
Lewis Shaw, owner and mortgage expert at Shaw Financial Services:
“Most lenders are great at standard applications, but once you’re into product transfers, transfers of equity and, worst of all, porting, it can be a world of pain.
“Given that lenders offer these benefits as part and parcel of their mortgages, you’d think it would be incumbent on them to have appropriate systems to allow them to be transacted easily.
“Moreover, why is there such variation in porting? Some lenders, as long as it’s pound for pound, don’t want any documents and won’t assess affordability, whilst others treat them as new applications.
“In my opinion, the best lenders are the obvious ones, with Halifax sitting at the top of the pile for pretty much everything, followed by Nationwide and Santander. Meanwhile, Coventry, who are an excellent lender, still want paper applications completed and emailed in for a port.
“Hopefully, they’re all working towards making their systems fit for purpose in today’s digital age.”
Darryl Dhoffer, mortgage expert at The Mortgage Expert:
“For mainstream lenders, Halifax are the Beneteau of mortgage vessels: slick, premium and top of the heap. The rubber dinghy of mortgages, to continue the nautical metaphor, is Barclays. They are just disastrous and love to overcomplicate an application.”
Justin Moy, managing director at EHF Mortgages:
“For most lenders, their online system is at least functional and has seen vast improvements over the last few years, incorporating checks on ID, income and property values in just a few seconds.
“However, some of the smaller building societies still insist on manual underwriting and a suitcase of documents, and that is often why their systems are unfortunately slow. There are plenty of ‘off the peg’ solutions that the smaller lenders can use simply to speed up their processing.”
Steven Morris, advising director at Advantage Financial Solutions:
“Good lenders have objective, quick and ideally automated processes. Any lender that uses MSO or whose name rhymes with Schmalifax perform well for this reason.
“Poor lenders don’t. Poor lenders hide behind ‘discretion’ as though they only ever use discretion to help through cases in a grey area or outside of policy.
“Whilst some lenders use discretion fantastically (BOI Bespoke, Suffolk, Coventry just to shout out a few) lots of dinosaur lenders mainly just use discretion to waterboard clients over a period of four months, asking for endless documents and putting them in a three-week queue after they ask the client for an answer to a self-evident question.
“And they do so in dribs and drabs rather than all once, to really test people’s patience. I hate to name and shame, but Dudley Building Society, your underwriting process just isn’t up to scratch.”
