In February, Lendex was rolled out to all mortgage advisers using online sourcing solution MortgageBrain Anywhere following a pilot period. 

The ability to request decisions in principle from TSB is being trialled with Fluent mortgages and will be rolled out to all users of Lendex this summer.  

The integration with TSB is being carried out through IRESS Lender Connect. 

TSB’s mortgage distribution director Roland McCormack said: “We are delighted to go live on Lendex. At TSB we have been early advocates of connecting to broker systems and now have close to 100 per cent coverage, making life easier and simpler for advisers. 

 Fluent Money Group’s chief operating officer Tim Wheeldon added that the introduction of Lendex to its adviser cohort had provided “significant benefits” in terms of time and efficiency. 

Neil Wyatt (pictured), sales and marketing director at Mortgage Brain, added: “It’s clear that momentum is building behind Lendex, with more lenders recognising the significant time saving benefits it provides. 

“Lendex is already making a real difference to the workloads of advisers across the country and we look forward to welcoming more lenders on board in the months ahead.” 

Around 18,000 checks have been made with the integration, which was launched to Sesame members in May, and now accounts for 70 per cent of identity checks.

The integration aims to save advisers time by running identity checks, storing information and receiving guidance on the CRM system.

It will also automatically fill in customer information, which will lower the risk of duplication and reduce the possibility of human error.

Sesame Bankhall Group’s chief operating officer, Richard Howells, said: “We’re continually looking at how we can enhance our network’s technology capability.

“This is another example of our commitment to continuous improvement, which is helping our members to work more efficiently and provide their clients with the best possible service.”

Mortgage Brain’s sales and marketing director Neil Wyatt (pictured), added: “Collaborating on projects that utilise technology in new ways to help save mortgage advisers time, allowing them to deliver a more efficient service, is something that everyone at Mortgage Brain is passionate about.”

The platform launched in February this year following a successful pilot, and has Nationwide Building Society, Virgin Money, Coventry Building Society and Platform signed up to the platform so far.

The platform can save mortgage advisers up to 20 minutes per case as it is able to pre-populate data from Mortgage Brain’s CRM or its mortgage sourcing system to the lender’s platform. This allows a decision in principle (DIP) to be made without having to re-enter information.

Accord Mortgages managing director Jeremy Duncombe said: “We’re always looking for ways to improve our systems and processes to make things easier for brokers.

“Our MSO platform, together with Lendex, means placing cases with us will be much more efficient; speeding up the time taken to apply for a decision in principle.”

The platform is currently in pilot with Fluent Mortgages, and Mortgage Brain has said that the number of lenders using its platform will increase to eight in the coming months.

Lendex is integrated with Mortgage Brain’s sourcing solution Mortgage Brain Anywhere and its CRM, The Key. It is available to UK advisers on a standalone user interface so advisers can get multiple DIPs, full mortgage applications, share documentation and track cases with one login.

Mortgage Brain’s sales and marketing director Neil Wyatt said: “We know from the feedback that the time being saved submitting DIPs or carrying out full applications through Lendex is making a tangible difference to the workloads of mortgage advisers across the country.

“At Mortgage Brain we are determined to transform the mortgage process for the better, and the fact that large lenders like Accord are backing innovations like Lendex demonstrates the progress already being made.”

The Blood Bank is a campaign to create a nationwide effort to inform individuals about giving blood and increasing donation.

The idea was instigated by OSB Group’s group distribution director Roger Morris, Buckinghamshire Building Society’s lending head Tim Vigeon and Mortgage Brain’s sales development manager Peter Harte.

The initiative was slated to be launched on the 1 June 2021, but due to the industry response the launch date was hastened.

The ultimate aim is to onboard around 30,000 new registrants by the end of 2022. According to the NHS around 400 new donors a day are needed to meet demand, with around 135,000 new donors needed a year to replace those who can no longer donate.

There is also a heightened need for blood from ethnic minorities and young people, with the pandemic also adding further demand pressure.
The bank’s website acts as a central portal, giving information about the process of giving blood and tracking the number of financial services industry members who register to become donors and donate.

Get involved

Companies that want to organise blood drives can also find useful resources and request an explainer session with the NHS Blood and Transplant team.

Morris said: “I’m incredibly passionate about it and encourage everyone to get involved. It doesn’t take long, doesn’t cost anything, and by donating just a pint of blood you can save up to three lives – it’s the greatest gift you can give.”

Harte added: “Being totally honest, you come away feeling great about yourself as you know you’ve done a good thing, but what really brought it home was when I got the text after my third or fourth time giving to say my donation had been used at Birmingham Children’s Hospital — why would you not donate when you can save a child’s life?”

To show your support follow The Blood Bank on Twitter @mtgbloodbank and use #mortgagebloodbank with pictures, videos and text snapshots of donation usage to spread awareness.

The portal allows advisers to source products for their clients based on the criteria of different lenders. 

MPowered Mortgages, subsidiary of MQube, launched into the unregulated buy-to-let sector in March, with an aim to provide funding to individual, limited company and portfolio landlords through its MPowered digital lending platform. 

Emma Hollingworth, sales and distribution director at MPowered Mortgages, said: “As a fintech business and a new lender in the market, we are committed to identifying ways that technology can better serve brokers and their clients to help make the mortgage process more efficient.  

“Criteria Hub is an innovative solution which delivers clear benefits to brokers and we are delighted to be the 80th lender on board.” 

Neil Wyatt (pictured), sales and marketing director at Mortgage Brain, added: “This is an incredible milestone for Criteria Hub to reach in such a short period of time. The last year has been a tumultuous one for the mortgage market, with lenders changing their products and criteria at a rapid rate.  

“Criteria Hub has been a valuable tool for brokers, keeping them on top of those changes so that they can swiftly identify the best lenders for their client’s requirements.” 

The pages break down the mutual’s lending criteria for both its residential and buy-to-let product ranges and offer filters ranging from the age of the borrower at application, to details about the property such as its acreage and whether it is being purchased at auction.

Criteria can be filtered based on a host of categories and topics, while there is also a dynamic search function meaning that potential criteria results are presented as the broker types.

The two businesses have already collaborated on the design of an affordability calculator for the lender’s intermediary website.

Craig Middleton, mortgage sales and distribution manager at Harpenden Building Society, said: “The new criteria pages are a fantastic addition to our intermediary website and will undoubtedly make it much easier for brokers to establish whether we can help with their client.”

Neil Wyatt, sales and marketing director at Mortgage Brain, (pictured) added: “We have always been clear about our determination to streamline the mortgage process and make it more efficient.

“Over the last year Mortgage Brain has embarked on a host of collaborations with forward-thinking lenders, putting our mortgage technology expertise to use in new and innovative ways which provide tangible benefits to brokers and their clients.”

Twenty7Tec completes Apply integration with Accord 

Twenty7Tec has completed an Apply integration with Accord allowing users of CloudTwenty7 to submit applications to the lender without re-keying. 

For this integration, Twenty7Tec has implemented IRESS Lender Connect software, which Accord is using to transfer data into its intermediary portal.  

Users of CloudTwenty7 will be able to complete a decision in principle with Accord on the CloudTwenty7 platform with customer data which has already been captured. The information will then be passed on to Accord’s portal and submitted to the lender.  

The integration with Accord is now in pilot with Mortgage Advice Bureau and Connells Group, with a plan to roll it out further to all CloudTwenty7 users in Q2. 

James Tucker, CEO of Twenty7Tec, said: “We have been working with Jeremy and the team at Accord for some time now, jointly developing solutions for making the process of applying for a mortgage decision simpler, faster and more efficient.  

“With this integration, we have achieved just that, and we look forward to rolling this out to all users of CloudTwenty7 shortly.” 

Jeremy Duncombe, managing director of Accord Mortgages, said: “We’re really pleased to be integrating this technology with Twenty7Tec as we continue our digital journey to make it easier for brokers to do business with us.  

“This solution, together with our MSO platform, will make a noticeable difference to the amount of time it takes brokers to place cases with us, freeing them up to spend more time with their clients.”   

Over 2,000 attendees of the firm’s Mortgage Vision Masterclasses last month were polled on their habits when sourcing. 

The polls showed that when dealing with a non-top 10 lender, however, 58 per cent of brokers said they rarely used the lender’s affordability calculator.  

It also found that 81.5 per cent of respondents spent more than 15 minutes entering details for a decision in principle (DIP) or full mortgage application. 

Mortgage Vision consisted of eight free online masterclasses featuring sessions from the likes of Pepper Money, HSBC UK and Skipton Building Society for Intermediaries.  

Subjects covered ranged from adverse credit, underwriting and the self-employed. 

Mortgage Brain’s Affordability Hub attempts to reduce the time brokers spend on a case by allowing them to run a case through the affordability calculator of 35 lenders at once.

Meanwhile, its Lendex system allows brokers to submit DIPs or full applications to different lenders with a single login, and without having to rekey case details.

Neil Wyatt, sales and marketing director at Mortgage Brain, said: “The feedback from our Mortgage Vision Masterclass events has been fantastic. There is no question that the many brokers who attended benefitted from thought-provoking sessions and are now better equipped for dealing with today’s mortgage market. 

“However, our survey shows that many brokers are still spending significant amounts of time on manual jobs like repeatedly keying in client data on lender websites.  

“At Mortgage Brain we are committed to transforming the way technology can help mortgage brokers become more efficient, making it far easier and quicker to source the products their clients need and cut out some of those time-intensive tasks.” 

She is tasked with new customer acquisition and current customer adoption across all Mortgage Brain products.

Benjamin starts today and will be reporting into director of intermediaries, Sharon Marshall after leaving Sesame last month following a group restructure and five years with the advice group.

Neil Wyatt, sales and marketing director at Mortgage Brain, said how pleased he is that Benjamin is joining and committing to Mortgage Brain given the raft of other offers she was fielding.

He added that Benjamin would help with the challenge of drawing brokers away from submissions on mortgage lender websites.

“The previous team was focused on existing customers. This is about new users and the wider audience we can help with our technology,” he said.

“Jane’s role is to grow relationships and drive engagement in current products and those under development.

“We want to fully support brokers through our revised intermediary structure and training and making sure we onboard those customers in the way they want, whether that’s through webinar, virtual or digital assistance or video content.”

Benjamin, head of intermediary acquisition said she couldn’t wait to work with both intermediaries and lenders in the new role and was drawn to the passionate ‘people-first’ culture at Mortgage Brain.

“I love our industry and throughout all the hardship of Covid last year it has shown us once again the value of advice. So if I can work with a company that helps on the technology side, that’s the perfect solution for me,” she said.

“This role is about helping advisers find a more effective way to allow them to do their jobs for a better customer and lender outcome.”

Mortgage Brain launched Lendex, its single-log in, digital end-to-end mortgage application and submission software in mid-February. The system has four live lenders – Nationwide Building Society, Virgin Money, Coventry Building Society and Platform – with more planned this year.

The software is accessible though online sourcing solution Mortgage Brain Anywhere or client relationship management tool The Key and offers a compliance audit trail and document uploads and case tracking.

Speaking in a Mortgage Vision presentation, Webb (pictured) outlined the software, which allows customers to input the fact find and limits re-keying of customer data, should minimise broker error and cut the 20 minutes or more spent by the majority of brokers submitting a full mortgage application.

The software currently offers four lenders – Nationwide, Virgin, Platform and Coventry BS – with more launches over the coming months.

In response to a question on when the big 15-20 lenders would all feature on the system, Webb said: “We are going at the speed of the lenders. We are banging on their doors to get them on as quickly as we can, but it’s down to the lenders and their pace of work.”

Lendex can submit an application directly into a lender’s system or produce a decision in principle (DIP) alongside a full compliance trail.

The software can be populated from The Key and is offered on Mortgage Brain Anywhere, according to Webb, but can also be used as a standalone product or tailored to another CMS.

Webb confirmed Mortgage Brain’s plans to integrate the Affordability Hub towards the end of Q2 this year at no charge to the broker, although the Criteria Hub integration will come with a fee, he said.

A document upload will be offered as part of the fact find said Webb adding that the broker could set a raft of checks for different client types, from self-employed to employed and add notes to clarify the form of the documents, then receive a notification once they arrive.

This is the fifth in the series of Mortgage Vision masterclasses, which will be available on-demand after the series ends on 25 March.

The next Master class will be at 11 am on Thursday 18 March from Leeds Building Society called New build and affordable housing – what’s coming down the track?

The lender, which is part of Yorkshire Building Society, also revealed details of its integrations with mortgage technology providers to improve application submissions processes for brokers.

Accord has developed application programming interfaces (API) to work with the Iress, Mortgage Brain and Twenty7Tec sourcing and CRM systems allowing brokers to pre-populate client details into its MSO platform.

It launched with L&C Mortgages and is conducting a further pilot with Quilter on the Iress Xplan Mortgage system.

Initially the functionality will be rolled out to the Iress Lender Connect system followed more widely with all three major sourcing systems – the Iress Trigold and Xplan Mortgage, Mortgage Brain and Twenty7Tec – during the first half of this year.

Jeremy Duncombe, managing director at Accord Mortgages, said: “Broker and lender integration has been topical for some time, but the last 12 months have brought this into even more focus.

“We’re always looking for ways to improve our systems and processes to make things easier for brokers and are confident investing in this new technology will help them connect with us more effectively than ever before.

“Our MSO platform together with API connectivity means placing cases with us will be much more efficient, and speeding up the time taken to apply for a decision in principle means brokers will have more time to spend with their clients.”

BTL product update

The BTL changes include a range of products at 65 per cent loan to value (LTV) for purchase and remortgage.

These include a pair of deals with a £1,995 fee – the two-year fix is at 1.64 per cent and has £250 cashback, while the five-year option is at 1.96 per cent and has £500 cashback.

New three-year fixed rates for house purchase and remortgage are also being launched, available up to 75 per cent LTV with rates starting from 1.89 per cent.

Rates have also been trimmed on selected products across the range while cashback has been increased to £500 from £250 in some products.