before it is ready for use. “It’s a significant piece of work and will take time to deliver but the point is we are listening and responding,” says Hartley. Another example of this is that fact


ING is now considering whether to pay brokers an additional proc fee if introduced customers remortgage with the lender directly when their existing deal expires. “Given that we only really kicked in our


mortgage lending at the end of 2009 we haven’t had too many mortgages maturing yet,” says Hartley. “But we’re now looking at how we deal with retention as customers on 2-year fixes and trackers come to the end of their deals and to what extent we involve the broker in that process. “We’ve looked at what the


themselves,” explains Hartley. “If they come through a broker, he will fill out their application for them.”


evoLuTIon Delivering that to brokers has been an ongoing evolution. “When we decided to launch with L&G we knew the timing was right after conversations with their management and we wanted to lend but we had designed our systems to be a direct lender and didn’t have in place the wherewithal to deal with brokers specifically. “When we launched brokers


introduced their client and the client had to complete their own application. We have continued to evolve that process so brokers are now able to apply on behalf of their customer and can access the account to keep abreast of what’s happening in real time with the application.” ING is in many ways a forward-looking


lender. For example another element of ING’s service is a text alert to keep clients posted on where they are with their application.


“At the moment the text alert we send


when the application reaches the next stage goes directly to the client,” says Hartley. “There are plans to bring brokers more into that loop. “Both the customer and broker


typically want the broker to deal with their mortgage for them. So we are taking steps to enable us to go back to the broker and introducing systems that will help us do that more efficiently and effectively. We’re trying to increase the level of involvement the broker can have.” In the past ING has chased


customers for additional information directly, regardless of whether a broker introduced the business or not. Now, the lender will route this back through the broker. “That’s what brokers want and so


we’re listening to them,” says Hartley. “We’ve also now got a dedicated broker team to deal with calls. We are listening to their feedback and we are making changes.” The lender is in the process of


developing a specific broker system but Hartley says it will be some months


competition does and some pay another proc fee while others won’t. ING does pay an additional proc fee in other countries that we lend in. “The deliberations about what we do in the UK haven’t yet finished but my expectation would be that we try to be customer focused and brokers are our customers.” This culture of putting the customer


first helped ING build its mortgage proposition in the first instance. The lender asked its savings customers what they would want to see if ING went into mortgages and the products it subsequently launched were modelled with that feedback in mind. ING’s range includes a 2-year, 3-year


and 5-year fixed rate, a 2-year and lifetime tracker rate and a standard variable rate, which at times they offer a discount on. Its current maximum loan to value is 80% and Hartley says while they are constantly reviewing the market, with future house prices still uncertain he has no plans to lift ING up the LTV curve. There are currently no fees on the


fixed rate products and its product booking fees are among the lowest in the market – a reflection of what customers wanted from the lender. Proc fees are pretty typical for the industry at 35 basis points on all products. n


mortGaGe INtroDucer JULY 2011 47


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64