Lenders
My mortgage lender doesn’t understand me
Brokers are relying on the big lenders because often it’s better the devil you know but Jeff Knight, managing director of Tonic Marketing, says smaller lenders must build trust
When I began writing this article, I had a vision of an intermediary sitting in a bar, slumped like a stereotypical New York cop, talking to a stranger and saying “my mortgage lender doesn’t understand me”. Whilst this was just a random thought,
there is some reality here, because there are many lenders which don’t really understand the intermediary market, but claim to. This lack of understanding causes frustration and wasted time and cost all round. I am sure many lenders will seek to
defend their corner here and make claim to knowing the market. Yet I am talking about knowledge and understanding that cascades beyond the board room, to those people who have daily interaction with the market. Does their marketing team, for
example, really know what intermediaries are thinking and feeling? Do their underwriters know why it is important to turn a case round quickly? Without a deep understanding throughout the lender’s business, problems follow.
More than words It is great to read in Mortgage Introducer that there are lenders looking to open their doors to the intermediary market. The number of products is
52 Mortgage introducer JULY 2011
increasing. The market needs a more vibrant and competitive market. Yet all this is meaningless unless
there is a deeper understanding of intermediaries by lenders, especially by those looking to increase their share of the market. Saying that you want more intermediary business is one thing, doing it and doing it well is an altogether different matter.
“Saying that you want more intermediary business is one thing, doing it and doing it well is an altogether different matter”
the triLogy More lenders and more products do not automatically make a more competitive market; it just creates a bigger list. To develop a more competitive market requires understanding, formed by trust, relationships and communication. Trust is built by perceptions, opinions
and most of, relationships. If there is no relationship, then it is hard to build trust. Relationships themselves are built over time and enhanced by honest two-way communication, which is heightened through a deep understanding of the parties involved. So the route to a more competitive market leads us back to understanding.
trust Me i’M a Lender Exclusive Charterhouse Research on mortgages has shown that, on average, intermediaries are using eight lenders which is fewer than in the past. Some will argue this is because some lenders have disappeared or withdrawn from the market. I believe it is to do with this issue of trust. The research shows that the key
drivers for intermediaries focus around end to end mortgage processing, speed and underwriting. Efficiency of case processing is vital
for intermediaries. The intermediary wants to be certain (have trust in) that a case is likely to complete. They also want to trust that the lender will work quickly and efficiently, because these are so important for their own client relationships. Being slow and inefficient runs the risk of the intermediary losing their client.
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