Although this rankles me and makes me a little frustrated I guess it is pretty understandable due to the scale and regularity of criteria changes.
We report on more than 50,000 pieces of criteria from more than one hundred lenders and so it’s not difficult to see how many changes can simply fly under the radar.
This lack of publicity is not due to any subterfuge on the part of lenders, or brokers not knowing how to ask for the hidden criteria like the secret menu in McDonald’s.
However, just for fun, next time you’re talking to your business development manager (BDM) give them a sly wink and ask in a whisper for the “special criteria you know they keep under the desk”. Let me know how you get on.
No fanfare
Mortgage lenders are simply no different to firms in any other sector.
It’s nice to shout about new, exciting developments and for lenders it could be they now lend on something different.
What is less usual is that there is any sort of fanfare for smaller criteria tweaks or even the removal of criteria meaning that they won’t do what they did before.
The crucial point is that although it’s really quite understandable for lenders not to publicise each and every criteria change, that doesn’t distract from the fact that brokers need to know everything.
Drop in the ocean
One criteria change might be a drop in the ocean on a wider scale but it can be hugely important to a broker and his or her client.
Knowing all changes, whether good, bad or ugly, or at least having access to criteria as it is at this moment in time, can stop a broker from submitting an application only for it to be declined.
The result of this avoidable situation is saving valuable time and possibly even money for the client, all because of a change to lending criteria that went under the radar.
Knowledge is power and so it is essential for brokers to have the information that doesn’t hit the headlines also at their fingertips.
The bottom line? It is crucial that criteria information is shared whether it’s exciting or not.
