Leveraging an asset that our larger banking cousins have been criticised for losing sight of.
Times have moved on in the mortgage industry, almost as quickly as technology itself. Branch managers no longer simply dish out mortgage agreements, instead, advice has become key.
In order to build trust and long-term relationships with clients, brokers require lenders to have complete faith in them. A challenge when dealing with automatic systems.
Mutuals tend to do things differently.
The focus is on a meaningful alternative of individual attention, reliability and quality service, which underpins the services and products on offer.
Technology, of course, has its part to play in assessing and smoothing the mortgage process. It cannot be denied that ongoing investment in technology, alongside a greater pool of capital to work from, does have its upsides. Often this is why banks seem a more attractive proposition.
That said, and as proven by the banking crises and ongoing economic instability, without people working together for the reciprocal benefit of their clients problems tend to arise.
This, combined with the innovative nature of mutual societies, who can complete bespoke deals for clients and react to market sentiment with additional agility, means brokers tend to look at smaller building societies as viable alternatives for their clients.
To conclude, I’ll leave you with the thoughts of the genius that is Steve Jobs: “Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have faith in people, that they are basically good and smart, and if you give them tools they will do wonderful things with them.”
Michelle Milne is mortgage manager at Saffron Building Society
