Specialist lenders have received the most positive feedback about criteria and flexibility in the first half of this year, but speed remains a sticking point.
In its bi-annual mortgage lender benchmark report, which collates feedback from 597 brokers on 44 lenders, Smart Money People found that 82 per cent of the brokers criteria feedback for the specialist sector was positive.
Nearly all the brokers surveyed, around 92 per cent and the highest for any mortgage industry sector, said that flexibility of specialist sector was positive.
This was coupled with ease, which increased by a third compared to the same period last year to around 68 per cent.
Specialist lenders were also used more for adverse credit cases, with feedback on adverse lending growing 11 per cent compared to the first half of last year.
However, negative feedback around processing speed increased by 11 per cent year-on-year to 72 per cent.
Brokers said that they felt that lenders sometimes took too long to review documents and asked for unnecessary documentation.
Smart Money People’s chief executive officer Jacqueline Dewey said that the pandemic has led to specialist lenders being in high demand, especially for those with adverse credit, which may have had a knock-on effect in processing times.
She added that she expected the heightened demand to continue, particularly with regard to more challenging adverse credit clients, and that specialist lenders would need to work on their back-office processes to make themselves increasingly competitive.
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.