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Equity Release Group launches product analysis service for lenders
Equity Release Group (ERG) has set up a service for lenders to track the suitability and competitiveness of their products.
The service is powered by ERG’s technology arm Equitec and gives lenders access to a management information (MI) suite that tracks customer activity.
It collates data from ERG’s SmartER platform on lifetime mortgages, retirement interest-only (RIO) products and home reversion loans.
The MI suite was already providing 20 data points for analysis, but this has now been expanded to include 50 additional data points.
This gives lenders an insight into the number of searches completed, how many times a lender appeared in searches and the number of times a ‘get quote’ form was submitted.
It also showed the average loan amount requested by borrowers and how many ‘apply now’ forms are submitted.
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ERG said this would help lenders to understand the popularity of their products and how they fulfil customer demands.
It also hopes this will offer live monitoring of loan-to-value (LTV) data based around age, percentage and value so lenders can determine gaps in the market.
Mark Gregory, founder and CEO at Equity Release Group, said: “Our ambition for Equitec was always to provide the market with real-time connectivity using a suite of innovative tools. With the launch of our MI suite and development of technologies, we’re continuing to realise this ambition.
“The system is accessed from one lender portal – a hub for lenders to update products, rates and underwriting credentials. Reporting works by collating customer data from SmartER including lifetime mortgage, RIO, home reversion and retirement mortgages, from which live reports can be filtered and downloaded for further analysis.
“This provides lenders with valuable insight, helping them to craft products that are more aligned to the customer and the needs of the industry.”
Benefitting borrowers
Matt McGill, managing director of Aviva Equity Release, added: “The knowledge and insight we gain from the platform is really valuable to us. It’s an important part of our continual review process, ensuring that the products and services we offer customers are meeting their needs, and helping us to ensure the best outcomes for them in later life.”
Gregory added: “This is just one part of our growing later life ecosystem that feeds on real-time data, live accessible information and online tools that provide accurate results. My goal has always been to use our experience to help the industry grow together. Lenders can now benefit from a simplified process through one centralised hub, with the ability to shape and enhance their consumer offering.
“We want to help businesses to grow and thrive, through the use of our technologies, as well as the entire industry. This will ultimately benefit the end user – the consumer – from subsequent improvements in later life products.”
Earlier this month, ERG and Moneysupermarket entered into an exclusive referral agreement to allow people to explore equity release options.