A recent survey of 101 brokers, conducted by Mobas on behalf of Saffron Building Society, identified that 68% of brokers had complained to a lender for poor service in the last 12 months. Additionally, a further half admitted they had to complain to a lender due to the length of time to receive a decision for their client.
Brokers also admitted that service standards from lenders have dropped since the lifting of covid restrictions, with 96.4% stating the service was good to excellent during the pandemic. This dropped to 75% since restrictions were lifted.
Tony Hall, (pictured) Head of Mortgage Sales, comments: “The relationship with brokers is paramount to the success of Saffron. When I joined the society in 2020, I realised we had work to do to build our reputation, improve our service and engage more effectively with brokers. Recent research shows that there is some dissatisfaction across the board with brokers, and this needs to be addressed.
"Following extensive strategic planning and insight, we can finally announce our new initiative, Intermediar-ease, which puts our service standards to account, opens communication channels and allows brokers to clearly identify the changes we have made and those that will be made in the future.”
Since the pandemic, Saffron's BDM team has grown from two full-time, and one part-time team members, to eleven, with the society also launching two new secure websites and undertaking one of the largest criteria updates across the product base in its 170+ year history.
Additionally, the lender has also continued to develop its education and entertainment platform, SFI LIVE, to engage directly with brokers.
Tony Hall says: “This is just the start. With so many changes it is hard for brokers to keep up, which can mean missed opportunities for them and their clients. Equally, we know brokers are busy and may not always take the time to provide feedback to us.
"The ‘Intermediar-ease’ concept is a way to bring all of this together, and over time provide brokers with more avenues of communication, education around products and criteria, open access to underwriters and help us to continue to drive improvements in all areas of our service. I am proud of the changes that we have made, and our review scores continue to rise following a strong improvement in the last six months.
"The investment in people, products and our ongoing commitment to service is the driving force for me, and the BDM team. Whilst we know we can never be perfect; this initiative gives us a chance to reach for perfection and hold our hands up when we don’t get it right. In the coming weeks and months, we are holding ourselves to account like never before and ready to face the challenge.”
