I hardly place any business with Santander anymore but the main reason is that they have no USP's anymore so if they are not there on rate then why would anyone use them? Most lenders goes to age 75 now and no advantages for the self employed now either and taking pension contributions in to account for affordability when no other lenders do is just crazy so i cant see any USP's. What are your USP's AJS? Why would a broker use Santander? Service is never normally great and we are worried that you will try to steal the PT business in 2 years time....
I used to use Santander a lot but we are talking over 6 years ago now. They were in my top 4
However, after the more than awkward application (were people are penalized heavily if they pay more into a pension) and the fact that the lender tries to ALWAYS take out clients, then I am very wary to use you all at all
Hi
Really sorry to hear your negative experiences with us and can understand why you perhaps aren't keen to use us based on that.
We absolutely don't want to take your clients though- we want to support you to keep them even if they won't be staying with Santander. There are some changes and tweaks afoot which I've mentioned in other posts that I hope will demonstrate this and you may feel willing to give us another shot - I hope ☺️
AJ
Afternoon!
I certainly agree with you that we have lost some of our USPs.. the saddest one for me personally was latest year for self employed.
Some policy changes we implemented last year were to further enhance our IO and part and part policy which is great (appreciate region can have a bearing), 95% New Build houses and flats. I've always been a fan of our personal loan for a deposit too. We have a lot on the notepad all lenders speak of but after a meeting with our Product team last week I expect to have a lot more to tell you in this space by end of Q1.
Our service I accept has at times suffered when we've had a huge spike in business - but I will defend us in that overall we maintained a 6 day average offer time last year. Can that be better - YES!! And we are working really hard to do just that.
I'm sad to hear the perception is we steal your PT business - that is not the plan I assure you, but I know sometimes this hasn't gone to plan so to speak. We do highlight the broker on our letters to customers at PT time and write to them just 3 months before now. Again I think we can go further and this is being worked on too.
Happy to get one of our BDMs to have a chat and go through any policy that would help entice you to give us a try again.
AJ
Afternoon
I'm really sorry to hear you've lost cases this way. There is a process in place for our direct telephone teams whereby if there is a broker on the case they are directed back to the broker to complete the PT. We absolutely don't want to steal the business and the relationship you've worked so hard for. In cases like these that get flagged to me through my accounts I will always investigate and have calls listen to etc to ensure the right outcome for all. Please do reach out to your BDM or myself in these instances and we will do our best to help.
At present we email updates, use our sales teams in the field and also use LinkedIn - how could we improve our contact for you?
Again sorry to hear you've had a bad experience with our UW - I would certainly expect understanding of a payslip and I'll feed this back for you.
I suppose the proof of the pudding is in the eating and I'd love for us to be able to show the change to you this year!
AJ
Sorry AJ, Santander are my last option lender youre not broker friendly at all, you wont allow Brokers to handle further advances allowing you to nick our clients, your service levels are rubbish, yout application asks ridiculous questions & above all your proc fees are crap, joint lowest in the industry...youve got a nerve posting on here
Hi Gazza
Thanks for taking the time to respond.
I totally agree on the further advance front - I do think brokers should be able to process them - even more so with the focus on green. We did a broker pilot I believe before I joined Santander but interestingly the take up was minimal and when discussed with a range of brokers it wasn't seen as a huge priority. Its certainly back on the radar and something I absolutely support.
Over service levels were consistently good last year (yes I acknowledge business was lower!) with only a week or so where service slipped due to receiving several weeks in one day. We are well set up to improve on speed this year.
I would also agree some questions can go! The improvements I mentioned on systems will look to tackle this too. Certainly in the pipeline for this year.
If having a nerve means encouraging feedback and not hiding and genuinely wanting to bring positive change on the back of that feedback - then yes I have a lot!
I know we haven't always got it right (show me a lender that has!) but this is us recognising that and actively making massive improvements.
AJ
Biggest lender in the UK is.....Halifax.
They get it right.
They are certainly incredible and one to aspire to compete with! I wouldn't like to see us dual pricing though for all our faults.
Play fair Gazza ! I have no argument with your complaints about Santander and I will go to my grave believing that (at least up until now) their whole system in recent years is set up to compete with us, particularly at point of PT.
However, I don't we should be attacking AJ - he/she has been given a job apparently to help confirm and address these issues and is acting in good faith (good on him/her for having the balls to accept this) and I certainly don't think he/she is doing anything wrong in accepting the task (I wouldn't want it) and giving it a go.
If he/she succeeds, even if only in part, then good - if they don't we haven't lost anything.
Thank you 😊 The only way is up to my mind!
Senior Paper, ive been in this business far too long & im too old in the tooth to mince words. My business has lost customers over the past few years as a result of thier underhanded methods, so please dont go asking me to play fair as if im the bad one, respect to AJS if he/she fixes the issues but he/she wont, its just hot air.
AJS represents Santander & will be fully aware of the issues with the Santander/Broker relationship & will know the many problems have been caused by Santanders greed & disrespect for Brokers, I have no faith or trust in thier business ethics, so come on this forum once they've been fixed AJS & ask Brokers to give your beloved Santander another chance, I would most certainly be much more receptive
Pretty long in the tooth myself so I do understand your perspective! However, I also don't think there is benefit is not taking action; but there is benefit by wanting to change perspectives.
I would personally rather speak to the people that matter (brokers) and get their opinions and hear first hand what we do wrong ( I have my own opinions of course!) than just change what we we as a big institution deem right - a democracy with all interested parties contributing makes sense to me.
I am feeding all the comments back so even if its hot air on my part we are taking notice 😊
Hopefully the Santander person can take back this valuable insight as to how they are viewed within the intermediary market, however 20 years ago they were worse than they are now. The telephone BDM's have always been YES people and never ever help to a satisfactory outcome, so that would have to change along with a decent pick up time when we phone them. Where are their field BDM's ? They have been non existent for years and years and you dont even see a presence from Santander in any industry events which tells a story in itself.
Hi
Absolutely I'm feeding all this back so thank you for your input too! Sorry to hear you haven't had the best experience with your telephone BDM though.
I'm sorry you haven't seen us at industry events - my calendar is always full of them across the country - this year there are event more so I really hope you see us and we can have a chat.
Happy to put you in touch with your BDM if it helps? Or support them if there are areas of training necessary 🙂
AJ
Okay, putting out grievances to one side, maybe it could be useful having this thread with AJS as at least we know we have another avenue for queries guidance etc, which I am sure is the intention.
Trying to get a straight answer from my BDM at the minute on a case where we have a 10% shareholder who receives dividends and salary by his Dad.
I have Salary and dividend figures for the tax year end for 2023 and 2024 but also business year end 31/10/2023 and 31/10/2022. the figures do differ and it will perhaps fit one way, but not the other.
I need to know what income proof, is okay, as I am being told that 3 months dividend vouchers and wage slips will be okay, but still not sure what date these need to be and if we can use the whole amount or only a percentage of them.
does the frequency these are paid, alter what can be done too?
Hi there
Happy to speak to your BDM for you? With the best will in the world I sadly don't have capacity to get into case specifics but really happy to support you getting in touch with BDM/TBDM or our telephone teams who are the go to for all things policy/case specific.
I did though speak to our head of UW on this to get you a more specific answer on this one:
As he has a 10% shareholding, we would consider him as an employee (not self-employed) and would consider him employed by family business (assuming his Dad owns the business)
Therefore, to confirm income we would need
- Latest monthly payslip (if using overtime or other reg payments would need last 3 mths)
- Last 3mths bk stmts showing salary credits and dividend payments
- I presume the dividends are paid monthly – if so the last 3mths vouchers – this income would be considered as dividend income and considered as secondary income
If dividends are not monthly, can we find out their regularity and then we can advise what evidence we would want.
In some instances, due to the close relationship between employee and employer we may also need to see 2yrs accounts to assess the sustainability of the business – if the underwriter felt this was required, we would request once they had assessed the income evidence as above.
I hope this helps a little and do let me know if you would like me to have a chat with your BDM.
AJ
I have just lost a case where I ported a £ for £ mortgage and it completed in December , the ported fixed deal then ended 02/01/2025. I went to do the PT, but couldn't as I couldn't access the system for the client due to them "just moving", yes you've guessed it, the client could ring up and do the PT direct, another proc fee lost, its this kind of things that grinds our gears, I had the same with Principality and the BDM messaged me and sent me the proc, its that kind of service thats required,
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