Overall broker satisfaction with mortgage lenders has improved by 2.5% since 2020 according to Smart Money People’s Mortgage Lender Benchmark

10 June 2021

New research out today from Smart Money People has found that broker satisfaction with mortgage lenders has increased by 2.5% from 77.8% to 80.3% in the last six months, although overall satisfaction has not yet recovered to the peak seen in H1 2020 of 82.70%. Smart Money People is the leading financial services customer review and insight website, and the findings come from its twice-yearly Mortgage Lender Benchmark. Today’s publication comprises feedback from over 590 mortgage brokers on 44 mortgage lenders.

The research by Smart Money People found that over half of mortgage lenders saw an increase in their overall rating. Compared to results in H2 2020, lenders who improved often achieved greater broker satisfaction around the speed and ease of the application process. Lenders who have seen a decline in their overall rating in H1 2021 often did poorer around customer service, speed and underwriting.

The Mortgage Lender Benchmark also asked brokers how likely they are to recommend a lender, to calculate the Net Promoter Score, a measure of loyalty. Scores in H1 2021 range from +70.8 to -50.0, with the average across all lenders increasing by 11.9 points to +24.7, from +12.8.

Commenting on the findings, Jacqueline Dewey, CEO of Smart Money People said: “The improvements in overall satisfaction in H1 2021 represent an increase to an industry average of 80.3%, having dropped by 4.9%, an all-time low, from our last report in H2 2020. This increase is encouraging and shows that the mortgage industry is now recovering from the effects of the pandemic. Lenders now seem to be comfortable with new working patterns and are better placed to cope with the incredibly high demand we’ve seen during the pandemic.

However, broker sentiment is not yet back to pre-pandemic levels, and the results show that there is still more work that lenders can do to improve the broker experience. The next six months will be interesting to watch and see what happens to broker satisfaction, as we see lenders return to offices and adapt to a more permanent state of hybrid working.”

Top bank: Halifax
Top building society: Skipton Building Society
Top Buy to Let lender: Godiva
Top specialist lender: Pepper Money
Top lifetime lender: Canada Life

The Mortgage Lender Benchmark covers feedback from 597 brokers on 44 lenders across banks, building societies, specialist lenders and lifetime providers, as well as their thoughts on the mortgage market in general.

Along with asking brokers to rate lenders on different aspects of their proposition, Smart Money People analyses the comments that brokers provide when asked what they like or what could be improved for each lender. These are mapped across 20 themes to give a rich insight into how each lender is performing.