Since deciding to back a totally intermediary distribution policy in 2013, the Society appointed a number of packager partners who act as conduits for new business from the wider broker community.
According to Head of Lending, Steve Sandiford, plenty of valuable lessons have been learnt as the service standards have continued to improve in 2014.
He said:
“To say that we have learnt a huge amount in reaching our initial goal of a 10 day turnround would be an understatement. Changing the culture within the Society and dealing with the needs of intermediaries through our panel of partner packagers has been a challenge. However, it has been worth it to get to a point where our service standards are now among the best in the industry.”
“Because we work with a relatively few partners, we have been able to get really close to them and because they understand our process and our underwriting so thoroughly, not only are we able to offer a high percentage of DIPs within hours which go the whole way to completion, but the high degree of understanding between the parties means that more cases are arriving with everything we need to go to formal underwriting. This is a virtuous circle that can only improve and with our migration to a world class technology hub towards the end of 2014, as well as negotiations on closer links with conveyancers, we are examining every facet of the underwriting experience to ensure we are streamlining our process without compromising our robust underwriting and compliance standards. As a certain 1970’s band sang ‘You ain’t seen nothing yet!’"
