Coventry Building Society (BS) has expanded its live chat opening hours to give brokers an extra 10 hours of expert support per week.
The live chat function will be available from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday, with the lender guaranteeing that the chat will be answered by a “genuine intermediary expert rather than a chatbot service”.
Brokers using the function last year were connected to a member of the team within 32 seconds on average, and new business calls were connected in 26 seconds.
Keith Williams, senior operational manager at Coventry BS, said: “Brokers love dealing with us because they know they’ll get a reliable answer from a real person very quickly. Extending our live chat hours means we can be there for brokers working beyond the typical nine to five and give them specialised help when they need it.
“Our live chat feature has always been really popular with brokers because it’s so simple and efficient, and there’s always a real person at the other end. It’s looked after by the same team of experts who answer our calls, so brokers can be sure, whether they pick up the phone or type a quick question in the chat, they’ll be getting through to a human expert ready to help.”
In an analysis last year, brokers were split on live chat, with some calling to eliminate it and others saying that it was a useful tool to answer small queries and allowed them to work on multiple cases at once.
Anna is currently the deputy editor for Mortgage Solutions and editor for Specialist Lending Solutions. She has worked as a journalist since 2019, having secured her Gold Standard NCTJ diploma from News Associates in a fast-track six-month course.
She started her career as a report at specialist publication The Insurance Insider covering a wide range of areas before joining Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions in 2021.
In her role, she helps put together and structure the news agenda for the day and writes up press releases, reports, interviews, analyses and exclusives across both titles. She also commissions blogs for Specialist Lending Solutions and hosts online masterclasses and in-person events across the business.
She has been shortlisted for three journalism awards, which include BIBA Journalist and Media Awards Scoop of Year Award in 2020, Headline Money Mortgage Journalist of the Year Award (B2B) in 2022 and 2023.
Prior to being a journalist, Anna worked in ecommerce across Snow + Rock, Cycle Surgery and Runners Need websites, and before that worked at specialist financial PR firm Rostrum.
In her spare time, Anna enjoys reading, seeing live music, and cooking for friends and family. When she gets a chance, she also enjoys hiking, skiing and indoor rock climbing.
