Around 22% of mortgage administrators say that access to a lender’s underwriting team is important to get cases done, a survey has found.
According to a survey from Pepper Money, which surveyed around 150 mortgage administrators, this was up from 16% last year.
Around a third said they would refer to sourcing system and lender websites, with only 12% saying they would look at lender guides.
The report found that around 61% of mortgage administrators said the telephone was their preferred method of communication, up from 55% last year.
Approximately 16% said they would prefer email or web chat respectively, followed by 4% who opted for face to face.
When asked how the last year has impacted the time it takes to process a mortgage, 49% of mortgage administrators said that it had increased, 32% said it remained the same and 8% said it had decreased.
Around 11% said that the time taken had increased significantly over the past year and only 1% said that it had decreased significantly.
Regarding attractive lender characteristics, 22% of mortgage administrators pointed to mortgage processing time, 18% said access to the underwriting team was crucial along with quality of communication with the underwriting team, and 14% said technology.
Paul Adams, sales director at Pepper Money, said: “Brokers may provide the ultimate advice, but it’s often the case that the experience a customer receives is driven by the work of mortgage administrators right from the beginning of the process at the start of a fact-find, through to researching the most appropriate options, submitting the application, progressing it to offer and seeing it through to completion when the funds are released.
“The latest mortgage administrator survey, commissioned by Pepper Money, shows the increasing importance of being able to speak directly to an underwriter on the phone to ensure the smooth processing of an application.”
He added: “This probably reflects the growing complexity of customer circumstances for which a simple conversation with an underwriter can be the quickest and easiest way to get the case across the line.
“At Pepper, our underwriters answer our broker enquiry calls and make a call themselves at the outset of every application. This process gives everyone certainty at the outset and helps us to consistently deliver the outstanding levels of service that were recently recognised by the Smart Money People survey.”
Anna is currently the deputy editor for Mortgage Solutions and editor for Specialist Lending Solutions. She has worked as a journalist since 2019, having secured her Gold Standard NCTJ diploma from News Associates in a fast-track six-month course.
She started her career as a report at specialist publication The Insurance Insider covering a wide range of areas before joining Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions in 2021.
In her role, she helps put together and structure the news agenda for the day and writes up press releases, reports, interviews, analyses and exclusives across both titles. She also commissions blogs for Specialist Lending Solutions and hosts online masterclasses and in-person events across the business.
She has been shortlisted for three journalism awards, which include BIBA Journalist and Media Awards Scoop of Year Award in 2020, Headline Money Mortgage Journalist of the Year Award (B2B) in 2022 and 2023.
Prior to being a journalist, Anna worked in ecommerce across Snow + Rock, Cycle Surgery and Runners Need websites, and before that worked at specialist financial PR firm Rostrum.
In her spare time, Anna enjoys reading, seeing live music, and cooking for friends and family. When she gets a chance, she also enjoys hiking, skiing and indoor rock climbing.
