The findings published in Iress’s second annual Intermediary Mortgage Survey, showed that the number of lenders offering the facility to scan and attach proof documents has drastically improved from the 43% recorded last year, but at one in four lenders the service is still not available.
Henry Woodcock, principal mortgage consultant, IRESS, explained that intermediaries relied on the ease of placing business with a lender to ensure their customers experience “superior service”.
“Online quotations and applications are not enough,” said Woodcock. “Lenders need to up their game and provide systems that are truly intuitive, easier to navigate, with intelligent questioning – ask once and answer once, providing real-time case updates for both the intermediary and applicants.
“Intermediaries recognise the benefits that smart lending systems can provide and now the Mortgage Credit Directive (MCD) is in place, they expect lenders to invest in innovative technology and reduce application processing times over the next 12 months.”
IRESS’s research was gathered from two separate lender and intermediary surveys of 16 lenders which represent around 80% of the mortgage market, and over 220 intermediaries.
Following scan and attach, intermediary’s second most-wanted requirement of lender technology was an online single status view of all of their cases. However, lender provision of this service dropped in 2016, falling from 52% in 2015 to 44% a year later.
Intermediaries cited inconsistency in the level of services being provided across the industry, with 53% of respondents ranking lender systems as average to very poor for ease of use.
Despite these findings, there were improvements recorded by Iress. The provision of system generated automated email updates more than doubled compared with last year, with 69% lenders offering this facility up from 33% in 2015. In addition, half of lenders now support product and rate switch transactions online for intermediaries and their clients.
Intermediary and lender expectations were also misaligned when it came to predictions for the mortgage market this year. Just over half of intermediaries believe that the application process will take longer in 2016, in stark contrast to 68% of lenders who think that the process will be shorter.
The report said: “This reflects one of the principal findings of this survey; lender systems do not match intermediary wishes. With further regulatory change coming into force expect intermediaries will be looking to see improvements in lender systems to reduce application processing times over the next 12 months.”
