The Lender Criteria system, which has data from 60 lenders at present, has been put together by Michael Cuerden who began work on it in 2016.
Cuerden, managing director of Lender Criteria, told Mortgage Solutions that the current systems had not been launched when he conceived the site.
“As a mortgage broker in late 2016 I was wasting hours at my desk researching lending criteria via sourcing systems, websites and phone calls to try and get the jigsaw pieces of my clients and lenders to fit together,” he said.
“I suddenly had one of those ‘light bulb’ moments and thought it would be invaluable to people like me if lenders’ criteria could be harnessed in one place — a website that would allow professionals to search for answers they need to criteria questions and get those jigsaw pieces to fit.”
Brokers more willing
And Cuerden is not put off by the competitive market into which he is entering with ambitions to eventually establish a user base of 1,000 brokers.
“Connecting with networks is the quickest way forward, but I’d also like to work with smaller brokers like me,” he said.
“There’s a lot of sole traders who may not have access to the current systems already and I’m not all together certain that brokers will follow the criteria search to begin with.
“I’m hoping to be around as brokers become more willing to use these search systems. I believe that this one is easy to use.”
Cuerden is not concerned by the possibility of potential price cuts by existing players, but added that he believes the site has genuine worth.
At present, it’s available as a free trial, but he expects the eventual cost to be about £15 a month.
Lender login created
Cuerden said he’d experienced some trials with getting web development off the ground, but that after testing with more than 20 brokers the system is now ready to go live.
At present he and a colleague have been adding the criteria data, but a lender login has been created for lenders to update and maintain their own details.
“I wanted to get the site up to this level, so that it’s available, first. And now, I’ve started contacting lenders and hoping to get them on board,” he said.
Plans are in place for niche criteria pages and introducing buy-to-let lending.
Cuerden is happy to receive feedback from brokers and suggested that during the initial stages brokers could call, while with their clients, to perform tricky searches.
