Smart Money People, a financial services review site, said broker satisfaction with UK mortgage lenders had levelled out during the first six months of 2022 but that building societies remained the top rated sector for adviser satisfaction.
Smart Money People’s twice-yearly mortgage lender benchmark includes feedback from over 650 mortgage brokers on 99 mortgage lenders.
Its net promoter score is intended to assess how likely brokers are to recommend a lender. Now in its eighth edition, the Mortgage Lender Benchmark report features a detailed analysis on 50 lenders across banks, building societies, specialist lenders and lifetime providers, as well as their thoughts on the mortgage market in general.
The average score for all lenders within the benchmark decreased by 0.3 to +26.8 during the first half of 2022, this compared to a net promoter score for all lenders at the start of 2020 as +30.8.
Overall building society rating was the highest at 84.1 per cent, compared to 81.1 per cent for the whole industry.
In its H1 2022 benchmark report, Smart Money said overall broker satisfaction with lenders remained level, down only 0.1 per cent to 81.2 per cent. However, the industry is still a long way off from results seen in H1 2020 when satisfaction was 82.7 per cent.
Specialist lenders once again outperformed other lenders in terms of their net promoter score registering an increase of 13.5 from H2 2021, and up 29.3 points on 12 months ago.
However, lifetime lenders recorded a drop of 8.6 to their score at +15.8, the lowest recorded figure for the sector aside from during the height of the pandemic in H2 2020.
The top rated bank for broker mortgage satisfaction was Halifax while the top building society was Leek United Building Society.
Jacqueline Dewey (pictured), CEO of Smart Money People, said: “Leek United Building Society has had a fantastic set of results for our H1 2022 Mortgage Lender Benchmark that demonstrates they are very highly regarded by brokers and performing well above the industry average. Their overall rating from brokers placed them at the top of the building society league table and, at 94 per cent, gave them the joint highest rating of any lender in our Benchmark. Leek United also had the highest Net Promoter Score of any lender in our report at +80.0. Well done to everyone at Leek United.”
Darren Ditchburn, deputy chief executive at Leek United Building Society, added: “We’re delighted that Leek United has been rated as the Best Building Society in Smart Money People’s latest Mortgage Lender Benchmark survey . We pride ourselves on delivering a fair and friendly service underpinned by our knowledgeable staff, flexible criteria, and competitive products. We know it’s important that lenders are ‘easy’ to do business with and therefore it’s very pleasing to see high levels of broker satisfaction across the key areas of people, process, and product.”
The top buy-to-let lender was Godiva and the top specialist lender was LendInvest, while the top lifetime lender was Canada Life.
Broker satisfaction with relationship managers also increased, by 1.6 per cent, to stand at 78.9 per cent.
Dewey added: “The results we’ve published today give a sense of ‘calm before the storm’ in the eyes of mortgage brokers, with the true impact of the cost of living crisis yet to be seen on the UK mortgage market. Our analysis shows that broker satisfaction with mortgage lenders has leveled off over the last six months and has not yet fully recovered to the peak we saw at the start of 2020.
“Brokers are nervous for their clients – finances need to be prioritised and without more flexibility from the industry, the near future is set to bring rising levels of credit impairment, and the market is going to continue to be suppressed if lenders remain as risk-averse as they are now. The comments we received from brokers show the signs of a lack of confidence in the market, if the supply of products and lenders impacts their business model and their ability to support their customers’ needs. Brokers are calling for lenders to offer greater flexibility, support, and a review of affordability calculations and criteria due to the rise in cost of living.”
