Smart Money People’s H2 2023 Mortgage Lender Benchmark show lenders have largely coped with market turbulence

29 November 2023

Smart Money People, the UK’s dedicated financial services review site, has released its H2 2023 Mortgage Lender Benchmark covering mortgage broker opinions on UK mortgage lenders for the second half of 2023.

The bi-annual independent research study, run by Smart Money People, has found that despite a slight dip from the record broker satisfaction levels seen in H1 2023, the latest results have remained fairly stable, as lenders appear to have largely coped with the ongoing market turbulence caused by further rate rises in the latter part of the year.

This marks the eleventh edition of the Mortgage Lender Benchmark which analyses the state of the mortgage industry according to brokers’ views. The latest edition comprises feedback from over 790 mortgage brokers, providing 3,666 reviews on 105 lenders.

Based on the H1 2023 findings, overall satisfaction with lenders has slightly decreased by 0.5% to 82.9%. Building societies are once again the top-rated sector for broker satisfaction but were down 1.0% to 84.7%. Broker ratings for specialist lenders are down 2.4% to 79.6% and for lifetime lenders, ratings are up 3.4%, now at 83.6%.

The average Net Promoter Score (NPS) for all lenders is marginally down 1.8 points on the H1 2023 figure at +32.2. Scores ranged from -26.7 and +69.1 for the lenders in the report.

Atom bank was named the best bank by brokers, while Coventry Building Society was named the best building society lender. The best lifetime provider was Canada Life, the best buy-to-let lender was Metro Bank and Interbay and Landbay were jointly recognised as the top specialist lenders.

Jacqueline Dewey, CEO of Smart Money People, commented:

“Despite volatility and pressures across all aspects of the mortgage process continuing into the second half of the year, the results in our eleventh edition of the Mortgage Lender Benchmark are encouraging.

“Amidst a backdrop of challenging market conditions, lenders have continued to deliver a great service and experience to brokers and their customers, with just a small dip in the record overall satisfaction scores seen in H1 2023. With recent market talk of rate rises potentially coming to an end, it’ll be interesting to see how this continues into next year.”

To find out more about the Smart Money People Mortgage Lender Benchmark contact jess@smartmoneypeople.com.