However 35% of respondents said they are worried that lenders including Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, ING Direct and HSBC all offer online mortgage services.
Fahim Antoniades, group director at Mortgage Centre IFA, said that the threat lies in client ignorance.
He said: “If the client isn’t aware of their options and what could be possible if they had an independent view, then having something online which facilitates and almost entices the applicant to go ahead and press the button, could be the reason they could possibly miss out on a better deal.
“As long as the client is aware that they’re not getting whole of market advice, but only advice based on what the provider can offer them from their own internal product range, then there shouldn’t be a threat.
“If a client is ignorant to that fact, then it is a threat because it helps lenders who offer these online services to sweep up more business than they would with a client had it been a face-to-face branch meeting.“
Nationwide has seen the number of its online completions grow by 330% over the last 12 months, with 40% of its customers choosing to go down the online route.
The mutual said it offers a web chat service for borrowers during the process and customers also have the option to talk to a mortgage consultant while online.
A spokesman for Nationwide said: “We don’t think brokers should feel threatened by online mortgage services because our system is for people who aren’t looking for independent advice and were going to go direct anyway.
“This is another way for people who would have gone into a branch or done it on the telephone, to get a mortgage with us.
“Intermediaries for us are still the most dominating channel, as most of our mortgage business continues to come from them. People who need independent advice should still go see a broker.”
