For 88% of borrowers, they found their recent mortgage applications a stressful experience. It was described as ‘very’ or ‘extremely stressful’ by 45% of respondents.
Mortgage lenders were cited as the party that caused the most stress by 44% of borrowers. A quarter of respondents said it was surveyors, while mortgage brokers were cited as causing the most stress by 23% of borrowers.
The findings showed that waiting for lender approval was the most stressful part of the process, as cited by 29% of respondents. The next-most stressful part of the process was finding the best mortgage deal, as per the responses of 28% of borrowers.
For 21% and 17% of borrowers, proving income and unexpected document requests respectively ranked as the most stressful parts of the mortgage application process.
Are your clients ready for the first Making Tax Digital reporting deadline?
Sponsored by BM Solutions
Younger clients likelier to attribute stress to brokers
Borrowers aged 18-24 were over three times more likely to attribute stress during the mortgage process to their broker.
Over-65s were the most likely to cite their lender, the highest of any age group, at 62.1%.
Women reported higher overall stress than men, with 50.6% and 37.8% reporting higher stress respectively. Women were less likely to attribute stress to the lender, at 39% of women compared to 51.3% of men.
Highest lender stress felt in South East
For 48.2% of borrowers in the South East, lenders were cited as the reason for mortgage stress – the most of any region.
Also in the South, the largest number of borrowers who cited lenders was in Southampton.
The highest number of borrowers who cited brokers as a cause of stress was in the North – at 30.5%. The city with the highest proportion of respondents that named brokers as the main reason for stress was Norwich, at 38.7%.
Northern Ireland was the outlier, as surveyors were named by more than half of borrowers as causes of stress – more so than lenders and brokers.
Boon Brokers said the research highlighted that stress for borrowers is less likely to be caused by a single issue or stage during the mortgage application.
However, it said that setting clearer expectations on stage progression from the start and helping borrowers understand the lender requirements before an application is submitted could play an important role in reducing unnecessary stress throughout the mortgage journey.
