Banks and building societies are set to become more dependent on their broker channels for supporting them in the new and increasingly complex application process after the regulation is introduced in April this year.
Increased volumes of customer data, administration and more thorough affordability checks will be just some of the areas where lenders will look for increased support from their existing intermediary networks and partners.
MMR will see changes such as the removal of the majority of non-advised sales and the introduction of a more intrusive analysis of customer affordability. Whilst lenders are currently preparing for these changes by improving internal systems and processes, it will be difficult for many of them to accommodate a similar volume of clients’ applications due to the vast increase in time and resources required for each individual case. Therefore, the reliance on adviser expertise is set to increase dramatically for the majority of lenders.
Ian McGrail, Managing Director of First Mortgage, says:
“Research shows that brokers have typically had a higher success rate of getting mortgage applications to the point of offer in good time. Consequently, with the process being made even more challenging, lenders will now rely more heavily on their well-established broker partners to share the ‘burden’ of conducting initial consultations, assessing affordability and compiling the mountain of paperwork required."
He added:
“With the mortgage process becoming longer, more intrusive and potentially more restricted, it has never been more important for consumers to seek professional advice. Our team at First Mortgage are confident that our proven track record and experience in the advised-sales arena will see us taking on more and more clients who are looking for the surest way to succeed in securing a loan under the new regulation.”
