New customers can apply for a mortgage via the HSBC website and receive a decision-in-principle within 20 minutes.
In addition, the Mortgage Product Switcher service allows current mortgage customers to transfer their mortgage to a new deal within 15 minutes.
A spokesman for HSBC, said: “With our current customers, as long as they’re not changing the term or the value of their loan, our online service will enable them to switch to a new rate.
“However, if the customer was on a repayment mortgage before, they will have to continue on a repayment mortgage when they transfer to one of our other deals.”
For new applications, HSBC said that while customers will receive a principal decision within 20 minutes, the actual decision will require them to look at other areas before it commits to the loan.
New customers will also be allowed to apply for any of the deals that HSBC has on offer at the time.
HSBC has become the fourth lender to offer online mortgage services, following Lloyds Banking Group, ING Direct and Nationwide.
Martijn van der Heijden, head of lending at HSBC, said: “Our customers want to make more financial decisions online, and we feel there is no reason that mortgages should be an exception.
“The Mortgage Product Switcher service is ideal for the majority of borrowers who at the end of their current deal just want a new great rate. It’s simple and provides our current mortgage customers with a paperless way of effectively remortgaging in just minutes.”
Dominik Lipnicki, director of Your Mortgage Decisions, said that HSBC’s online mortgage services will have little impact on broker business.
He said: “Unless there is a significant change in criteria, these services make no difference.
“We still believe there is a massive need for mortgage advice because it’s not getting easier to place deals and to place clients with mortgages.
“We haven’t really heard clients complain about the time it takes for a decision to be made on their application. What they’re really interested in is seeing more flexible criteria for deals available on the market.”
