Smart Money People has released its H1 2025 Mortgage Lender Benchmark covering mortgage broker opinions on UK mortgage lenders for the first half of 2025.
The bi-annual independent research study, run by Smart Money People, has found that the overall satisfaction with mortgage lenders increased by 0.05-points to 4.22 out of 5 – the highest level since 2020.
In response to the changing needs of the mortgage market, this latest edition features a range of enhancements, shaped by direct feedback from lenders and brokers, to provide even more comprehensive analysis.
One enhancement is the Broker Experience Index – which combines multiple satisfaction and service metrics, such as speed, service, digital tools and support – and this debuts at 70.6. This metric has been created to reflect the full broker journey.
The building society sector has the top-rated Broker Experience Index of 71.5, although mainstream lenders follow closely at 71.4.
This marks the fourteenth edition of the Mortgage Lender Benchmark which analyses the state of the mortgage industry according to brokers’ views.
The bi-annual study is the industry’s largest broker feedback survey, enabling lenders to form valuable insights to help understand the market.
The latest edition comprises feedback from 1,111 brokers at 600 firms, who gave their opinions on 134 lenders, representing 98% of UK gross mortgage lending.
The average Net Promoter Score (NPS) for all lenders rose to +40.9, up 5.0-points from H2 2024.
Halifax was named the best mainstream lender by brokers, while Principality Building Society was named the best building society lender, the latter retaining their status from H2 2024. In addition, the best later life lender was Canada Life, with Pepper Money recognised as the top specialist lender – also retaining their H2 2024 position.
A change to the top spot though was recorded in Buy to Let specialist, as BM Solutions came out as top lender in this category. Meanwhile, Allica Bank were the top bridging / commercial lender, and LendInvest were recognised as the best digital-first lender.
Jake Sandford, head of data and analytics at Smart Money People, said: “It’s extremely encouraging to see that overall satisfaction across the industry remains high, which is undoubtedly great news for brokers and borrowers alike.
“To reflect the importance of the wider broker journey across multiple touch points when working with lenders, our new Broker Experience Index provides revealing insights on the individual elements of the journey – and shows which lenders are managing to join everything up to provide the best broker experience.”
