Mortgage advisors name Halifax as top lender

June 16, 2026 by Brendan O'Neill

Mortgage Advisors

Mortgage advisors have ranked Halifax as the top lender in terms of overall experience.

They were being surveyed by Smart Money People for is bi-annual Mortgage Lender Benchmark. This questions 980 advisors working for 510 different companies about the performance of mortgage lenders. They are asked about 126 UK lenders, who account for over 98% of the gross lending in this country. The results for the first survey of 2026 saw Halifax come out on top, as it did in the final one of 2025.

The bank was voted the best in terms of overall service standards, and named as the best high street mortgage lender. When it comes to the specialist market, Pepper Money took the accolade, again for the second successive time.

Nationwide Building Society was voted the finest building society lender. It was this segment of the lending market that got the best score in the Broker Experience Index. Building society lenders achieved a 73.6 score, while for mainstream lenders it was 70.8.

There was a slight drop in the Net Promoter Score though. This fell by 0.4 points in comparison with the last survey.

Jake Sandford from Smart Money People spoke to Mortgage Introducer about the findings:

“Despite the rate volatility that occurred during the first half of this year, it’s clear from these results that lenders across the sector broadly maintained their high standards to support brokers and their customers during uncertain times.”

The standard of support offered by lenders is one reason why so many people are choosing to do CeMAP mortgage advisor training.