Mortgage application process fails to tick homebuyers' boxes

June 28, 2014 by Brendan O'Neill

Mortgage Advisors

Only a third of people applying for a mortgage are happy with the application process and get less satisfied the further through the process they get, new research has found.

The findings from YouGov show that just 18% of applicants are happy with the financial stage of the process. Further along the survey, results show that just 14% are satisfied once they have secured the home loan, with Tom Rees, the UK Research Manager at YouGov saying:

“The bad news for providers is that most people dislike most parts of getting a mortgage.”

However, he went on to say that, as customers are getting increasingly savvy about the process and more confident in approaching mortgage advisors, they know what to do to improve their experience.

Rees also outlined a number of ways in which providers could improve the process, particularly highlighting how giving applicants greater control can improve the overall perception. He also said that throughout the financial stage it would be preferable to speed things up.

With such low satisfaction levels when applicants become customers, however, he proposed that lenders need to look at their customer service levels more closely, advising them:

“Once people have mortgages, lenders could improve things by increasing the level and quality of contact with their customers.”

Meanwhile, consumer credit reporting agency Equifax feels that bringing in automated income verification will improve matters, bringing down the time taken for mortgage applications to be approved and, in the longer term, helping to reduce payment defaults.