LATEST MORTGAGE HUB ENHANCEMENTS
MAKING NEW BUILD APPLICATIONS EASIER
Martese Carton, Director of Mortgage Distribution
As an evolving lender, Leeds Building Society is committed to the continual transformation of technology and its processes to help make business easier for mortgage intermediaries when applying for first time buyer and affordable housing products
Following the successful launch of Mortgage Hub in 2020, we have continually made improvements to help brokers manage applications more efficiently. In 2021 we integrated our online application platform with major sourcing systems as part of an extensive mortgage connectivity development. 2022 has seen us build on that foundation, and are improving our technology once again, giving you more time to handle workloads, interact with clients and manage more complex cases.
We wanted to tell you about three key changes we recently made to speed up and improve caseload management:
-
Physical (wet) signatures are no longer required.
We’ve removed the need for a physical signature which means the Customer Declaration form no longer needs to be printed and sent into us. Elsewhere in the application process you’ll notice that signature fields have been replaced with tick boxes. This is something we know you’ve been asking for, and a chance for us to show our commitment to responding to feedback and investing in innovation. Please also note that this change also means the Intermediary Terms of Business has been updated.
-
Automatic valuation instruction
Valuations will now be automatically instructed on day 1 of the mortgage application process – an average time saving of around five working days. We’ve also introduced Automatic Valuation Modelling (AVM) on new purchases, reducing the reliance on physical valuations for cases meeting the required criteria. Both improvements will considerably speed up the application process.
-
A single case requirement email
All case requirement communications will now be combined into one email to help keep you on track and save you energy at the same time!
Saving you time and providing a great service is our priority, and these improvements have been shaped from the latest piece of insight we commissioned. The investment in our systems made a huge difference in 2021, giving us extra capacity to deal with our biggest ever year for mortgage applications and help more borrowers into their homes sooner.
Brokers have already experienced the benefits of these updates with one case achieving a record turnaround time from application to offer of just 18 minutes.
Alfie from Oak Financial Services Limited was ecstatic about the outcome of this record-breaking case, commenting “This is the first time using Leeds since the old system so the entire process was worlds apart. I’m really impressed with the AVM decision returned during the application and the fact the case offered so quickly. This was a great experience, and the applicant was also really pleased with the speed to offer!”
We’ll continue to improve systems and invest in our underwriting capacity and BDM teams to make the experience for intermediaries the very best it can be, across our residential and affordable housing range.
More details of the changes, and the updated Intermediary Terms of Business, can be found on the Society’s Intermediary website.
