The research, conducted by comparison site gocompare.com, shows that just 59% of people who recently switched their mortgage provider described the process as ‘easy’. Back in July 2014 when the same survey was carried out, that figure was 70%.
The dramatic reduction suggests that the Mortgage Market Review is continuing to frustrate consumers, with the changes widely blamed for a fall in mortgage applications and delays in processing approvals.
Matt Sanders from Gocompare.com, said:
“It is clear from our research that consumers have taken issue with the changes to the mortgage application process introduced 12 months ago. To put it into context, the recent improvements in bank account and energy switching have failed to register at all on this survey, yet mortgages have slipped 11 percentage points. It would be fair to say that mortgages were never the most straightforward product to switch, but MMR has added an extra layer of complexity and in many cases led to delays in the process which just frustrates people further.
“Familiarity clearly plays a part in consumers’ perceptions around ease of switching, with home and car insurance seen as the easiest products to switch. These are annual products so consumers are often more aware of the switching process and providers have to maintain slick procedures to manage the volumes effectively. However, for most of the other products in our list – including mortgages – providers need to up their game as the switching genie is well and truly out of the bottle, and consumers expect a good service when they have spent time shopping around to find a better deal.”
