An independent survey of more than 400 intermediaries showed that 72% were either satisfied or extremely satisfied with AFI’s service.
By comparison, 2% said they were dissatisfied in the study by research consultancy BDRC for AFI.
The turnaround comes after AFI managing director Alan Mathewson told Mortgage Solutions last August that addressing brokers’ heavy criticism of its service was its top priority.
He said today, following the survey results, that AFI would continue to work closely with intermediaries to further improve its service in 2011 and make it easier for them to place applications with the lender.
Mathewson said: “These results show the real progress we’ve made in improving our service over the past ten months, but this is just the beginning. There is more work to be done to enable us to really lead the industry on service excellence and we are committed to introducing further improvements over the coming months to build upon the progress already made.”
Andy Frankish, managing director of Mortgage Talk, said: “We have seen a massive difference in Abbey’s service. It’s worth mentioning that at our most recent awards, voted for by our sales force and administrators, Abbey won the best lender award, which it has never done before.
“Its help desk for appeals was a major step forward, because historically it has had poor service. It is also less faceless as an organisation; they come and see us and spend time with our staff on the ground.”
Brian Murphy, head of lending at Mortgage Advice Bureau, said: “We have witnessed a real transformation in Abbey for Intermediaries in recent months. In the early part of 2010, we were having regular conversations with them concerning service issues, but since then, AFI has dramatically turned things around. It has significantly invested in resources, training and technology, radically improving their broker facing service proposition and demonstrating their commitment to the intermediary sector.”
