509 brokers in 24 hours sign up for Knowledge Bank’s free Covid-19 live feed as Knowledge Bank receives 926 criteria updates from 91 lenders in just 48 hours

20 March 2020

Knowledge Bank has seen a phenomenal demand for the free live feed tool that it created yesterday, designed to provide brokers with a single point of reference for every lender’s criteria, policy and processes relating to the COVID-19 situation. 509 brokers had signed up in under 24 hours as brokers need to keep on top of the demand for information.

Multi-award winning criteria search system Knowledge Bank, instantly responded to the government’s announcement that all homeowners who need it may take a three month mortgage payment holiday. It jumped into action building a completely free-to-use live feed for brokers just a few hours after the announcement. It continues to be updated by lenders themselves, in real-time, as they release their criteria.

The need for such a feed became immediately apparent as there were 926 criteria updates from 91 lenders in just 48 hours following the government’s announcement. While some of these were the lenders’ approach to the Covid-19 situation, others were the launch of new product ranges as lenders cost of funds rose overnight.

32 lenders have said that they will provide borrowers with a payment holiday but most require the borrower to phone the lender; some lenders have now set up dedicated telephone lines and numbers. Brokers will be able to access these numbers from the Knowledge Bank free ‘COVID-19 Live Feed’, although at the moment it is the borrower that needs to phone the lender, lenders are not permitting brokers to do it on their behalf – although this policy may change as time moves on. Knowledge Bank meanwhile is equipping brokers with the telephone numbers they need to give to their clients.

Five lenders have gone over and above this: Chorley Building Society and Nationwide have provided forms that brokers and borrowers can downloand and send back, while Coventry Building Society, Ipswich and Together are allowing customers to self-certify that they have been impacted by Covid-19 with no further validation required.

35 lenders were still formulating their policy as of yesterday, so more criteria updates are expected throughout the day. Responses from buy-to-let lenders are also being added throughout the day as these lenders decide what their policy and processes will be.

Lenders have welcomed the move by Knowledge Bank as some reported that their phone lines had been completely swamped by the number of calls and this new feed certainly help to lift some of the pressure.

Robert Sinclair, the CEO of AMI supported the Knowledge Bank initiative saying, “In these difficult times the industry needs to support each other to ensure that we can provide information and comfort to the general public. Initiatives such as this which allow broker to be better informed and so help their customers are a great example of this industry at its best.”

There has also been overwhelmingly positive feedback from brokers with comments such as: “Outstanding work from the Knowledge Bank team in difficult circumstances for us all.” Alex Groom a mortgage specialist at Aga Mortgages

“This is really amazing for you to all have done. The page is so good and full of great information.” Amy Wilson, The Right Mortgage Network

Some even turned to social media as Lea Karasavvas, managing director of Prolific Mortgage Finance posted, “Great touch by the amazing @KnowledgeBankUK, even had an email from one of their technicians last night at 9pm about something they are trying to assist on. These guys are working around the clock!! Amazing work.”

Nicola Firth, Founder & CEO of Knowledge Bank said: “In light of the different government announcement information was being released at such a pace that it was immediately clear that we had to do something to help make lives easier both for brokers and lenders, both of whom would be inundated with calls from borrowers. It’s at times like this that we all need to work together. This this live feed is a completely free to use tool for brokers and the industry to help deal efficiently with the understandable concerns from borrowers in these unprecedented times.

“We will work with the lenders over the coming days and weeks to constantly keep the live feed updated with each lender’s approach and criteria.”

Brokers wanting to use the free tool can find it at: https://www.yourknowledgebank.uk/covid19/