Affordability impacts lender choice for 9 in 10 brokers

14 March 2022

Nearly nine in 10 brokers say they have recommended a lender that they did not initially consider on the basis of affordability.

An independent survey conducted amongst more than 400 brokers found 89% of those surveyed said that by assessing affordability at the outset, before using traditional sourcing tools, they ended up using a lender they had not initially considered.

The research found that mortgage affordability platforms are already fully embedded in broker processes, with 77% of those surveyed saying they use MBT Affordability on at least two thirds of their cases.

These results come from an upcoming Affordability White Paper, which has been commissioned as an independent study and will be available later this month. The researchers undertook a full study of the changing affordability landscape, how brokers integrate affordability into their advice process and how affordability can increase the number of lenders considered for a client and change lender recommendation.

Tanya Toumadj, CEO at Mortgage Broker Tools, said: “At MBT, we process a huge amount of data from live broker cases, which tells us that the choice of lender can make a significant difference to the loan size that is offered to a customer.

“So, we wanted to better understand how brokers embed affordability research into their advice process and whether this really does influence their choice of lender. This study, which was carried out independently, offers conclusive evidence that affordability research at the outset is now commonplace amongst brokers and that it has a significant influence on their choice of lender, with nine in 10 brokers saying they have recommended a lender they had not previously considered based on affordability. We are looking forward to releasing more information, with the launch of the White Paper, later in the month.”