The idea of the calculator is to improve the efficiency of face to face or live interaction with clients. Three most often asked questions by a buy to let client is:
1. how much can I get?
2. what are the fees?
3. how much will I pay monthly / or the rate?
Current tools provide separately, the rate or the deal and the maximum loan. There is no relation between the two. Tools currently available are two types. Those that gives the maximum loan only (even those are limited to about 25 lenders) and those that will show the rates, if the loan qualifies. The latter often involve submitting full client details over several webpages. Which is laborious and time consuming. The last resort is individual lender websites.
There is no flexible or efficient way to identify near misses and to have discussion with the client regarding alternatives, such as increasing the deposit. So most brokers will need to do the research in the background and return to the client at a latter date with a tailored response. The client may be approaching other brokers in the meantime and if another can provide a faster response it is likely you will loose the client.
We wanted a tool visualise the maximum loan for 50+ lenders with corresponding rates, fees and monthly payments instantly. The broker then can have a live discussion with clients, cut down on the time spent and become more productive. It also allows brokers to get an immediate sense, if the application will be fruitful or will have no legs at current time. We also aim to keep the cost of use as low as possible for brokers.