Mortgage Lender Benchmark H2 2021: Results

Today we have published the 7^th edition of our bi-annual Mortgage Lender Benchmark. Within the Benchmark we have found that broker satisfaction with mortgage lenders is now 81.3%, an increase of 1% from H1 2021, and an increase of 3.5% from 12 months’ ago. However, our research found that broker satisfaction has not yet recovered to the pre-pandemic peak of 82.7% seen at the start of 2020.

As part of the report we also asked brokers how likely they are to recommend a lender, to calculate the Net Promoter Score, a measure of loyalty. The average score for all lenders within the Benchmark increased by 2.4 to +27.1. The peak Net Promoter Score for all lenders was recorded at the start of 2020 at +30.8.

Specialist lenders performed the strongest of all sectors for an improvement to their Net Promoter Score in the eyes of brokers, registering an increase of 15.8 from -3.5 in H1 2021 to +12.3 in H2 2021.

Commenting on the findings, Jacqueline Dewey, CEO of Smart Money People said: “The sustained increased in broker satisfaction with lenders for H2 2021 shows that the mortgage industry is now returning to normality following the perfect storm of disruption to normal working patterns over the last two years and an unprecedented level of demand for mortgages in 2021.

New data released from UK Finance this week has suggested that levels of lending will be at their highest since 2007, and the findings today suggest that in the eyes of mortgage brokers, lenders have responded incredibly well.”

Broker rated lenders for H2 2021

Top bank: Halifax

Top building society: Newbury Building Society

Top buy to let lender: Skipton Building Society

Top specialist lender: Fleet Mortgages

Top lifetime lender: Canada Life

Now in it’s seventh edition, the report features feedback from over 750 brokers on over 100 lenders, with a detailed analysis on 49 lenders across banks, building societies, specialist lenders and lifetime providers, as well as their thoughts on the mortgage market in general.

Along with asking brokers to rate lenders on different aspects of their proposition, 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.

**New for H2 2021**. We sought broker feedback on the following industry topics, which feature with a detailed analysis within the report:

• What product areas and features do brokers think would be valuable to their clients?
• What do brokers perceive as the key future threats to their business?
• How do brokers want to speak to relationship managers, and who’s getting the right balance of contact?

Visit our dedicated Mortgage Lender Benchmark page to download a summary copy of the report or find out how to purchase a copy.

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 H2 2021 report is the seventh edition of the report, which started in H2 2018.
• The report captured feedback from 773 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 October 2021.
• Data on 105 lenders was captured as part of the study.