Lenders who have had to pause new business in recent weeks to maintain service levels have said that most brokers are understanding, but others have reported a small minority have been verbally abusing frontline staff.
Paul Broadhead, head of mortgage and housing policy at the Building Societies Association, said that lenders pausing business to manage service levels was “not a new phenomenon”, and was used when the “flow of applications cannot be slowed by other means”.
“Homebuyers are experiencing a pretty unforgiving market just now so it is important and right that lenders take any steps they deem necessary to keep their service levels as high as possible. It is disappointing, and frankly not acceptable, for anyone to be unprofessional or rude during what is already a difficult and demanding time for teams who are trying to do their best,” Broadhead added.
Saffron Building Society, who temporarily paused business earlier this month, sent a note to brokers last week, telling them to treat their staff with respect, as a number of frontline workers had reported verbal abuse from some brokers.
Tony Hall, head of mortgage sales at Saffron Building Society, said that the business’ pipeline was currently twice its normal levels, and to help manage delays the firm had drafted in staff from other areas of the business to support mortgage applications.
“It is when they [other staff members] are giving the answer we are asking them to provide that the brokers are getting abusive.”
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He said it was not every single broker, adding “some will rant and rave, others will accept and be patient and others will provide a reasoned argument as to why we need to help them more urgently”.
“I think it is largely frustration from brokers. The whole mortgage chain has delays with lenders, surveyors, conveyancers, estate agents and builders. I think all of that adds pressure and there’s an outlet at some point. The mortgage journey is a very emotive time for all concerned,” Hall explained.
He added that the firm had not removed any brokers from its panel, saying that that would be a “last resort”.
Lender action
Charlotte Grimshaw, head of intermediary relations at Suffolk Building Society, said brokers had been “very understanding” about its decision to pause new business as it had been “consistently upfront about our service levels taking longer than we would like”.
She said Suffolk had implemented a deadline for decisions in principle and given a longer deadline for full mortgage applications.
“As a result, brokers have been very supportive that, while we have been keen to help with any enquiries they already had in progress, we were not prepared to increase our timescales further and have a negative impact on their client’s purchase or remortgage case.”
Grimshaw added its business development managers (BDM) and telephone helpdesk had kept in contact with intermediaries and was still receiving enquiries but it was “making sure we manage expectations while we are out of the market”.
Jonathan Stinton, head of intermediary relationships at Coventry for Intermediaries, said the lender was “really grateful for the patience and understanding” from brokers when it paused new business earlier in the month.
“They [brokers] were, and still are, understandably concerned about the industry-wide issue of rates being pulled. But we found they appreciated our open and transparent approach and, although it was temporarily disruptive, they understand why what we did was better for them and their clients in the long run.
“We’ve always prioritised our broker partners and the lines of communication were especially important during this time. Brokers were able to phone our contact centre or talk face-to-face with their BDM throughout, which really helped to ease any specific concerns.”
Hall said Saffron was “committed…wherever possible” to provide 48 hours notice for product changes, with 24 hours as the bare minimum for products being pulled, but this was not always possible.
“From my experience and recent conversations with brokers, they value that heads up. It might still frustrate them because they may lose that opportunity, but they are thankful it gives them a fighting chance of securing that product.”
More communication and information from lenders vital
Imran Hussain, director at Harmony Financial Services, said he was “entirely sympathetic” to frontline staff that are receiving verbal abuse, adding that they should not be receiving abuse at all.
He added: “If a lender is looking at pausing for new applications, they must have a date in mind when they wish to return to the market or simply re-price or not accept a specific type of business that is time-consuming for them and their system.”
Hussain said the “biggest thing” lenders should be doing is “setting out from day one what they require to make a decision on the lending”. He explained some lenders, who tended to deal with specialist cases, were already doing this and were not having as many issues with timescales.
He noted some lenders made “constant requests” for more documents and explanations on a “simple case”, and this brought the “whole process into disrepute”.
Rob Peters, principal at Simple Fast Mortgage, said as mortgage deals were being removed so quickly the whole industry was “feeling the pressure”.
He added that while it was “extremely frustrating” for brokers currently, verbally abusing lender staff was “unacceptable”.
Peters continued: “We need to work together as an industry. It should be clearly stated on a lenders’ website if they are pausing business or removing a product, but this is not always the case.”
Packaging cases ‘correctly’ first time crucial
Jamie Lennox, director at Dimora Mortgages, said he had sympathy for those on the frontline, but some lenders should have been “proactive instead of currently being reactive”.
He explained pausing new applications or withdrawing deals created a “further bottleneck of applications”, which could lead to brokers submitting before they had the appropriate paperwork.
“If they took the approach that if an application has passed an Agreement In Principle that a rate can be secure for a set period of time, it would avoid panic applications and would allow brokers time to package correctly so it can be assessed fully the first time.”
Hussain said brokers needed to ensure they knew if a lender had “specific requirements” for document uploads and that they were uploaded at the same time as the application.
He said some lenders had told him there were many brokers who were “not doing the basics in the first place and looking for someone to blame” when they uploaded documents late.
“This can and is caused by products being removed at short notice and we all want positive client outcomes. As a whole community, we need to have open and honest communication with no cloak and dagger.”
Peters agreed advisers should ensure cases were packaged “correctly first time” to take the strain off the lender and give the best customer outcome.
Lennox shared the same sentiment that brokers needed to secure all the documents upfront before giving advice in the current market.
“There is zero point in quoting a rate without everything on file as there is a high chance that the product will be withdrawn before the client returns the documents. Which I think is half the issue here as brokers are now submitting applications without everything on file, which is a huge risk.”