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Brokers could play a key part in improving the technology we use – Marketwatch

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  • 19/01/2022
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Brokers could play a key part in improving the technology we use – Marketwatch
Technology has been cited as an area of focus for mortgage brokers in 2022 which will require collaboration across the industry to ensure any changes work in the favour of all.

 

So this week, Mortgage Solutions is asking: How proactive are you in feeding back any issues to lenders or tech firms about their processes? 

 

Christopher Hall, mortgage and protection adviser at Mortgage Guardian

Lenders regularly pay large sums of money to market research companies so that they can better target the mortgage intermediary market whilst overlooking the obvious. Good tech is not always being delivered which deters new business being placed. 

Stating that mortgage brokers must continually give lenders feedback on technology to maintain efficiency is an essential next step forward within the mortgage industry.

Mortgage lenders, protection providers and the likes will on a regular basis acknowledge the importance of the intermediary mortgage market but quite often it is all sizzle and no steak. 

For the broker, identifying issues is the easy part but successfully providing feedback to the majority of lenders, insurers, and service providers are in the main like pulling teeth. Extremely difficult and painfully time-consuming. 

It is no wonder that many brokers accept their fate and band the phrase “it is what it is” around when discussing difficulties with certain lender portals. In simple terms, the juice is not worth the squeeze. 

Whilst I recognise that many lenders strive for excellence, some lenders would rather bury their heads in the sand. Improving the user experience is costly and smaller lenders often demonstrate that they are nimbler than the mortgage giants. 

Most brokers seem to have gone through a phase of reporting issues to their business development manager (BDM) or even tech support only for it to fall on deaf ears. 

So much can be achieved if lenders embraced the concept of two-way communication and engage with mortgage intermediaries to work as a team. 

  

Payam Azadi, partner at Niche Advice

I try to be very active.  

Our firm uses Knowledge Bank, Mortgage Broker Tools and Twenty7Tec. When we find information that needs updating or is incorrect or in the wrong format, they all have mediums within their systems to allow us to suggest changes. 

Twenty7Tec are very good at acknowledging and rectifying it, often on the same day. Then they ask for feedback on how it was handled. It’s looked at quite quickly. 

Mortgage Broker Tools are responsive too and Knowledge Bank has a section where you can let them know of any issues. 

The technology providers tend to have a facility in place but it gets a little bit complicated when dealing with lenders because that means going through BDMs and there is less of a direct link to resolutions. 

It almost becomes a bit of a Chinese whisper, as it depends on the ability, experience, and influence of the BDM. 

Some lenders do have feedback sessions for their technology, but they are also always tweaking things so while the tech might look the same on our end, a lot could be happening on the back end. 

Ultimately, the existing systems are quite static, and aren’t always highly intelligent. However, we’re seeing changes with new lenders like MPowered who have an intelligent application system. 

On a whole, whoever has the right mechanism for brokers to give feedback is a winner, but we also have to be active as brokers because it’s up to us to make systems better.  

For example, platforms like Knowledge Bank allowed us to compete with larger firms because it gave us access to lender criteria, so they levelled the playing field. For that reason, it is our duty to give feedback back to them to help us all. 

 

Adam Wells, co-founder of Lloyd Wells Mortgages

We’re constantly speaking to BDMs at every lender, as I’m sure every other broker is too.  

The lenders will know perfectly if there are any issues and also what the workarounds are if they are needed. Unfortunately, making tweaks to software is time consuming and therefore expensive and it’s very rare that we see any changes, unless lenders change their entire software. 

If a lender has upgraded their software then I know I want to understand it as soon as possible. 

It’s very rare that we get asked for feedback about lenders’ software. I also think if I was to make a suggestion, it would not be acknowledged. 

If we had a complaint about a particular lender, I would probably go to my network for them to take it forward as that would mean I have a larger, potentially more influential force behind me and that tends to provide better results.

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