Greetings all from Santander!

Hi Red - thanks for replying :) Its very true we haven't been as prominent lending in the last couple of years, but we absolutely do want to lend with brokers - you are so important to us and account for nearly 90% of all our mortgage business!

We have made the commitment that we won't dual price with our direct channels which I hope is further testimony to how we value you and the work you do - and this is something that is really important for us.

I hope you will see a change of pace for us this year!

Agreed. Scandalous fee especially compared to the rest of the market who significantly less.

Hi!

Thanks for replying! I certainly understand this feedback and can confirm it is very much on our radar.

Anything that supports us in helping our would-be customers and supports sourcing for you is hugely important to us and I agree we will be losing cases in some instances.

We reviewed our tariff or charges recently and removed a whole host of fees  including valuation fees and fees to make changes -  which was I hope a really good step in the right direction for us. 

So very much something on the list for us and as soon as anything changes you'll be the first to know :)

AJ 

Hi LCY

Thank you for sending these over - really appreciate it! I believe I had similar bugbears myself years ago! 

I totally understand your very valid points, and I've fed them back internally this morning - the good news is there is a lot of system work being undertaken at present and I am leading this from an intermediary perspective so will make sure this is discussed as a part of our changes :)

My understanding on these points has always been that whilst they may seem lacking in weight they are a way for us to keep our risk colleagues happy (some would say no mean feat!) and allow us to satisfy our responsibility for responsible lending, whilst, importantly not asking a million more questions of you and for more documentation to be provided.

Thanks so much again and I'll update as I make progress on this :)

AJ

Hi AJ

I appreciate both the tone and the positivity.

Your offer of a chat is again appreciated, but if I want to chat I have a TBDM and a face-to-face one, as well as the direct numbers of most of your bosses.

In order to introduce to a lender there needs to be a set of parameters. The first one being that it is mutually beneficial, and that each appreciates the other's needs and requirements. In other words 'trust'.

'Trust' that the lender will provide a consistent service and consistent parameters to follow.

There is no Trust left. I have been let down so many times, that the thought of rebuilding a relationship with you and trusting you with my clients fills me with anxiety and fear.

There is absolutely no faith left that Santander gives a hoot about me or my business. This has been proven time and again by actions and deeds.I have a maximum of another 10 years left in this  business. Why attempt to rebuild a relationship that I valued to much? After all, you've been nothing but a fairweather friend. Our relationship? An abuse of power.

So good luck to anyone who wants to swim in  your swamp again.  Give my best wishes to the lady who brought it all down, Helen.

SM

Couldn't it be the case that you've just had a bad run of cases going wrong and/or inexperienced underwriters? I just think that at some point we all have some kind of beef with a lender and that might be over 2,3,4 or more cases, and you end up seething about them as an organisation, but then the next case that goes in it's all rosy and you eventually get over it.

How many times have we all been on here raging with our tales of lenders incompetence and another broker pipes up with nothing but praise.

I think it can very much feel like that lender has it in for you specifically, but they don't, you just got unlucky, after all if they were that bad they whole business would be dealing with irritate brokers/complaints and it would grind to a halt.

Sounds like I'm defending lenders, and I'm not, I just know that i have felt just like you many times but come to realise every now and then a lender has a bad patch or you as a broker have a bad patch of cases with them and then it stops and its another lenders turn. 

It's been a bad run going on for years.

It started well before COVID when they had their summer slumberfest.

Come July and August the queues went up exponentially without reason , Every year.

They cried that they has lost their underwriters and needed new ones. We waited whilst they recruited their infants, and suffered whilst they were trained...only to find out that they have numeracy and literacy chasms.

The problem is that their training standards seem to have been adopted as their main standards. People who are not interested enough to make a call. People who knock off a couple of thousand in nearly every case due to 'changing affordability'. The BDMs and TMDMs are lovely folk....but they have no ability to influence or affect underwriters any longer. They don't even have the ability to telephone the underwriters!!!!!!!!  In other words it's the old Head Office v. Sales Team and head office always wins.

The BDMs are supposed to be selling us a service and a product. The underwriters' mandate is not of one to lend. It is of one to nitpick to the nth degree and then claim it's policy, when a dozen similar issues were waived through a week or two earlier. Simply no consistency and decisions seemingly made depending on the time of day or day of the week.

It's almost a sense of betrayal, where you focus on giving one lender a large percentage of your business in the expectation of getting a really good service and end up being shafted.

So no, it's not a run of bad luck, but a conscious decision by Santander to withdraw USPs, reduce service and ignore client pipelines.

Now.........they want us back??    Not a chance! Life is too short to deal with people and organisations that have made it clear that you're not that important to them. 

I've moved on and am much much happier with my current panel.

Hi there! Haha I understand the scepticism!

I am hugely serious about making a difference yes - putting on my body armour here I hope shows that...I can't make changes on my own of course, but I can influence. I'm doing this with the full backing of our Head of Intermediaries and our Head of Homes - they certainly have clout! Being a part of this forum gives me the voice of the broker which for me is the best clout to have.. and I'm pretty determined/stubborn... 

We understand brokers have fallen out of love with us (and get why) and we want to make the improvements needed to help you love us again.

AJ 

Hi there

I haven't heard the expression "mugging off " since I left London 10 years ago so that has made me smile. However in the context its saddens me and  I'm really sorry that's the way you feel about us -  its certainly not our intention.

I agree with you there are some changes that will vastly improve our PT journey for brokers and assure you they are being worked on.  I mentioned in an earlier post that we have a process in place with our direct telephone teams to ensure a broker case goes back to the broker if the customer has to call. Its taken really seriously and everything possible done to make sure of the right outcome for client and broker - so please reach out to your BDM if this happens.

Thanks again for your feedback.

AJ

Afternoon :)

Thank your for your reply and feedback  - really appreciate it.

Hahaha I'll take the provisional praise thank you, until I can demonstrate the changes and show us worthy of your consideration!

We would love to offer everything that can be done via direct through intermediary - and that is certainly the plan. I alluded to some system changes in an earlier message and this is a part of that. There are some situations with PTs where term is changing, TOE etc which we can't do at present to I take the feedback onboard and understand your frustration. 95% of PTs can be done via intermediaries though so there are a good deal that we can keep. We also only offer BTL through intermediaries  our Green Remo product is an intermediary only too.

Have a nice evening.

AJ

Hi there

Thank you for your feedback - Edge is one thing I've not had much negative feedback on... the chief aim for us was to be able to send offers electronically to clients instead of in the snail mail. We want to be more digital to allow us to be slicker and more efficient so this was a part of that digital transformation every one likes to talk about!

AJ 

Ah yes....."Edge"

Just another way to steal our thunder.

One of the benefits of being a broker (not many) is that on most occasions you are helping clients make life-improving/changing moves.

The payoff for me is the sound of joy in their voices when I tell them it's all sorted and offered. It's one of the few benefits in this swamp.

But even this, Santander managed to take away from us.

Another thoughtless act that has repercussions, well after they were so busy congratulating themselves on it.

It is absolute pony....a worthless sop to a pissed-off community