Mortgage Lender Benchmark H1 2022: Results

Today we have released our latest Mortgage Lender Benchmark, which covers mortgage broker opinions on UK mortgage lenders for the first half of 2022.

Our latest results show that broker satisfaction with lenders has levelled out for the first half of 2022, and suggests that the market is preparing to respond to changing customer needs with the cost of living crisis. Our analysis has also found building societies remain the top-rated sector for broker satisfaction for an eighth consecutive edition, with Leek United Building Society the top rated building society, and Halifax the highest-rated bank.

The results form part of our twice-yearly Mortgage Lender Benchmark which dissects the state of the mortgage industry according to the views of brokers. The latest edition comprises feedback from over 650 mortgage brokers on 99 mortgage lenders.

Key findings from our Mortgage Lender Benchmark H1 2022

• Overall broker satisfaction with lenders has remained level, down only 0.1% to 81.2% however, the industry is still a long way off from results seen in H1 2020 (down 1.5% vs 82.7%)
• Net Promoter Score (NPS) is down 0.3 points on H2 2021 at +26.8. Scores ranged from -50.0 to +80.0 for the lenders in the report
• Building societies are the top-rated sector for broker satisfaction for an eighth consecutive time
• Specialist lenders are on the up, with record levels of broker satisfaction, recording an improvement for a fourth consecutive edition
• Broker ratings for lifetime lenders have fallen, with lifetime lenders’ operational speed seeing the biggest hit to broker satisfaction
• Broker satisfaction with relationship managers increased by 1.6% and now stands at 78.9%
• Brokers are concerned about the impact of rising living costs on their clients, with 31.1% predicting challenges when needing to make changes to lifestyle.

Top broker rated lenders for H1 2022:

• Top bank: Halifax
• Top building society: Leek United Building Society
• Top buy to let lender: Godiva
• Top specialist lender: LendInvest
• Top lifetime lender: Canada Life

Commenting on the findings, Jacqueline Dewey, CEO of Smart Money People said: 

“The results we’ve published today give a sense of ‘calm before the storm’ in the eyes of mortgage brokers, with the true impact of the cost of living crisis yet to be seen on the UK mortgage market. Our analysis shows that broker satisfaction with mortgage lenders has levelled off over the last six months and has not yet fully recovered to the peak we saw at the start of 2020.

“Brokers are nervous for their clients – finances need to be prioritised and without more flexibility from the industry, the near future is set to bring rising levels of credit impairment, and the market is going to continue to be suppressed if lenders remain as risk-averse as they are now. The comments we received from brokers show the signs of a lack of confidence in the market, if the supply of products and lenders impacts their business model and their ability to support their customers needs. Brokers are calling for lenders to offer greater flexibility, support, and a review of affordability calculations and criteria due to the rise in cost of living.”

Overall ratings for mortgage lenders

We asked brokers to give a score for satisfaction on a scale of one to five, for each of the last five mortgage lenders they’ve attempted to place a case with. This gave us an overall picture of broker satisfaction in the market, and for the individual lenders.

For H1 2022, overall broker satisfaction with lenders has remained level, down just 0.1% to 81.2%. The chart below shows that the industry is still a way off from the results seen from the peak in H1 2020 (down 1.5% vs 82.7%).

The highest lender in our report had an overall rating of 94.0%, and the lowest was 57.8%.

Net Promoter Score

We capture the Net Promoter Score (NPS) for each lender, which is a measure of how likely brokers are to recommend a lender. It is essentially a measure of loyalty. The average score for all lenders within the benchmark decreased by 0.3 to +26.8. The peak Net Promoter Score for all lenders was recorded at the start of 2020 at 30.8.

How the different mortgage sectors compare

When we analyse broker feedback, we split the UK mortgage lenders into four sectors – banks, building societies, specialist lenders and lifetime lenders.

Building societies have the highest levels of broker satisfaction of any sector, which we’ve seen across the last eight editions of our Benchmark.

Specialist lenders have seen a fourth consecutive improvement to their performance according to brokers. Their Net Promoter Score registered an increase of 13.5 from H2 2021 and is now +25.8, which is an improvement of 29.3 points on 12 months ago.

However, lifetime lenders recorded a drop of 8.6 to their NPS, going down to +15.8, the lowest recorded figure for the sector aside from during the height of the pandemic in H2 2020.

Download a summary of the report now

To download a summary copy of the report or to purchase your full copy, head to our dedicated Mortgage Lender Benchmark H1 2022 page.

About the Mortgage Lender Benchmark

• The Mortgage Lender Benchmark is a bi-annual report released by Smart Money People in June and December each year.
• The H1 2022 report is the eighth edition of the report, which started in H2 2018.
• The report captured feedback from 659 brokers.
• Mortgage brokers were asked to leave feedback on the last five lenders they’ve attempted to place a case with recently, as well as other providers they use within their mortgage business, and their comments on the mortgage market in general.
• The data capture period was April and May 2022.
• Data on 99 lenders was captured as part of the study and 50 lenders feature in the in-depth analysis
• Smart Money People analyses the comments that brokers provide when asked what they like or what could be improved for each lender. These are mapped across 20 themes to give a rich insight into how each lender is performing.