The new Mortgage Lender Benchmark from Smart Money People suggests that the levels of satisfaction advisors feel towards lenders have experienced a dip during the past half year.
This bi-annual study shows mortgage advisors reporting an average satisfaction level of 77.8% towards lenders, which is a drop of 4.9% compared with the rating for the opening half of the year. It also represents the lowest advisor satisfaction level recorded since this report started to track the relationship between advisors and lenders two years ago.
The primary reasons that are being cited for the lower satisfaction rating are the standards of customer service and speed of response shown by lenders during the COVID-19 crisis, as well as frustration at what advisors consider to be low-quality online mortgage application systems.
A notable feature of the results is that the decline in the satisfaction level is consistent across virtually every part of the market. The one area where there was no such decline was the specialist lender market.
The bank lender that was rated highest was the Halifax, with Godiva the top rated building society, Fleet Mortgages rated the best specialist lender and Pure Retirement the best lifetime lender.
Speaking to Mortgage Strategy, Jacqueline Dewey from Smart Money People said:
“Many (brokers) are fed up with the pandemic being used as an excuse for poor service or slow processes.”
These are results that lenders should be paying close attention to, as the CeMAP mortgage advisor qualification prepares advisors to expect certain standards of professionalism. The results may also make advisors more determined to give quality advice to their clients.
