In 2025, pressure has built steadily across the mortgage process. Affordability has remained tight, client finances have become more complicated, and checks around money and identity have grown more detailed. But for many advisers, the biggest change has been how often cases slow once financial checks begin.
More and more, progress is determined by whether a borrower’s identity and finances can be clearly explained and backed up all the way through the transaction.
What’s really holding up cases now
Today, mortgage cases are under far greater scrutiny than they were just a few years ago. High loan-to-value borrowing is common, gifted deposits are widespread, and income isn’t always straightforward. That means financial checks now play a much bigger role in whether a case moves forward. What’s changed is not just how much information is needed, but how consistent it has to be. A borrower might pass one check early on, only to face new questions later. When that happens close to the exchange, cases slow down quickly and confidence drops.
Digital ID doesn’t answer the money questions
Digital ID has made the early stages of onboarding easier. Clients are now used to app-based checks, scanning documents, and completing steps on their phone. That has removed some of the delays that once frustrated everyone involved. However, proving who someone is doesn’t explain where their money came from. That’s still the hardest part. Deposits, savings, gifts, and transfers all need to make sense together. This is where many cases still pause, not because there’s a problem, but because the picture isn’t clear enough the first time.
Client expectations still need managing
One positive shift has been client behaviour. Far more buyers are now willing to share financial information digitally instead of emailing statements back and forth. That alone has cut days out of some checks, although speed doesn’t mean simplicity. Clients still need to explain their finances, and advisers often have to reset expectations. Transparency helps, but it doesn’t remove the need for detail. Where that isn’t explained early, frustration builds later.
Risk still lands at the end of the chain
Even with better tools earlier on, responsibility doesn’t spread evenly. When something doesn’t add up, the questions usually land late, and they land hard. This is why there’s more discussion about sharing verified compliance information more effectively between brokers, lenders and legal teams.
With Government pressure to speed up transactions, repeating the same checks again and again is becoming harder to justify. If information can move more cleanly across the chain, without lowering standards, it could reduce duplication and make delays easier to explain to clients.
What to expect in 2026
Looking ahead, checks around identity and money are not going to ease off. If anything, expectations will become clearer and more consistent.
For advisers, the practical takeaways are: prepare clients early for detailed financial questions, treat Source of Funds as central to case progress, not a final hurdle and expect closer alignment across the chain on what good evidence looks like
The cases that move fastest in 2026 won’t necessarily be the simplest. They’ll be the ones where the financial picture is clear from the start.
Mike Ward is chairman at Armalytix
