Five million [5,000,000] criteria searches performed on Knowledge Bank

30 March 2023

Knowledge Bank, the UK’s largest database of lending criteria has today announced that the Five millionth search has been performed on the system.

Knowledge Bank launched on the 6th September 2017 and this milestone means that, on average, over 2,400 criteria searches* have been performed on the system every single day.

The system was launched to help brokers and lenders improve the mortgage advice process by removing delays as a result of aborted applications from clients falling outside of criteria. Now criteria searching is embedded in the mortgage process and searches are performed prior to a product search to reveal which lenders will accept a clients’ circumstances.

The number of searches has grown exponentially over recent years as clients’ circumstances changed as a consequence of Covid and cost of living changes coupled with lending criteria changing on a daily basis.

Knowledge Bank criteria searches:

Knowledge Bank contains over 140,000 criteria from 260 lenders across seven different lending types including residential, buy-to-let, equity release, self-build, second charges, bridging and commercial mortgages.

Nicola Firth, the CEO and Founder of Knowledge Bank said “From launching the company as a broker trying to solve a problem for the industry to completing five million searches has been an amazing journey and, in some ways, a complete whirlwind! The support from brokers, networks, clubs and lenders has been remarkable. We’re so grateful for their ongoing commitment to Knowledge Bank and our shared goal to create a smoother and more efficient mortgage process.

“In the early days we used the hashtag #deletethespreadsheet as that was the only way that brokers could keep track of criteria changes but spreadsheets were inefficient, prone to errors and simply not fit for purpose. There certainly can’t be many criteria spreadsheets still in existence in 2023!

“The sheer fact that over 5,000,000 searches have been performed on the Knowledge Bank System shows how crucial it has been, and continues to be, for brokers to be able to check which lenders will accept their clients before they start a product search.”

Knowledge Bank is looking forward to its next target of ten million searches. Lenders or brokers wanting to find out more about KB PRO or Knowledge Bank can visit: www.knowledgebank.uk