Which mortgage firms have the best online systems?

Following the publication of the H1 2019 Mortgage Lender Benchmark, the top six UK lenders who rank highest for their lender systems in the eyes of their intermediary partners can now be revealed. The poorest-rated lender systems are also identified.

Top quartile: The best rated lender systems

• Accord
• Bank of Ireland
• Canada Life
• Coventry Building Society
• more 2 life
• Nationwide Building Society

Bottom quartile: The poorest rated lender systems

• Aviva
• Barclays
• LV=
• Metro Bank
• Paragon Bank
• Virgin Money

The top quartile is made up of six lenders, with only one bank, Bank of Ireland, making the grade. Three building societies and two lifetime lenders also feature in the top quartile, however it’s a mixed bag for lifetime lenders, with both Aviva and LV= making the bottom quartile, with brokers frustrated at their lack of online systems.

While brokers mostly talked about the ease or otherwise of using lender systems, with one broker labelling Bank of Ireland’s application system as “very easy to use”, a number also mentioned quirks that make using systems more difficult. For example, one broker leaving feedback for Paragon Bank said, “system problems, I have to call them every time to get an application through when the client has less than 12 properties in their portfolio.”

Smart Money People’s Mortgage Lender Benchmark, a six monthly assessment of the service and propositions offered by banks, building societies, specialist and lifetime lenders reveals which lenders’ systems are delivering the highest (and lowest) levels of satisfaction.

21% of all broker feedback about Barclays commented on their online systems, a far higher proportion than any other big six lender, and 76% of this was negative. Clydesdale Bank is the only top ten lender not featuring in the assessment of online systems, as none of the brokers leaving feedback for Clydesdale Bank commented on their online systems when discussing what they like about a lender and/or what could be better.

The Mortgage Lender Benchmark research is carried out by Smart Money People, the UK’s leading financial services review and research website. The report includes individual SWOT analysis pages for the 35 lenders with the most feedback, helping to provide an in depth assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of these lenders across some twenty themes, including online systems, criteria and underwriting.

A summary version of the report is available, and can be found at: https://smartmoneypeople.com/mortgage-lender-benchmark