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Are lenders looking to monopolise the mortgage journey?

ended 15. April 2026

NatWest announced on Tuesday that it is ‘enhancing’ the mortgage application tracking process by informing borrowers about the key stages of their application journey, including case updates, without requiring them to contact mortgage brokers. 

This would include communicating to applicants that the mortgage has been offered - possibly the one moment of pleasure for brokers fighting the mortgage system daily.

NatWest are not alone, lenders such as Nationwide and Santander have a similar process.

Are these client-side case updates really a problem that NatWest (and others) have needed to fix, or is this more likely a gradual move towards the direct delivery of mortgage applications to borrowers?

Does anyone else have clients who frequently email, text or call to say they have had an update from Nationwide or Santander, creating the very traffic NatWest are attempting to tackle? And what happens when there is a delay with the lender? Will tracking provide that reason, or do we, as the broker, front up the problem? And how is that downvaluation dealt with, too?

Communication is as important as ever; brokers invest a huge amount of time, effort, and capital in systems to be as sharp as possible and deliver to their clients. Are lenders quietly building for the future…

From NatWest yesterday..

7 responses from the Newspage community

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Craig Fish
Director at Lodestone Mortgages
NatWest's decision to contact clients directly at offer stage is calculated and brokers should call it out for what it is. Lenders are silent throughout the entire process. No communication when the case is stuck. No explanation when there's a delay. No transparency when a valuation causes problems. The broker absorbs every difficult conversation, every anxious client call, every piece of bad news. Then the moment good news arrives, the one positive moment in weeks of hard work, the lender swoops in to deliver it directly. Positioning themselves as the hero while the broker's effort, expertise and client management becomes invisible. This isn't an enhancement. It's brand-building at brokers' expense. If lenders want direct client relationships at offer, they can have them throughout, including the delays, the declines, and the down-valuations. You don't get to cherry-pick the good news. Brokers drive the majority of mortgage business in this country. Lenders, stay in your lane.
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Justin Moy
Managing Director at EHF Mortgages
I don't really see any of this as adding value to our clients. What may be a convenience for the lender can turn into a communications dog fight with borrowers, especially when they want to tell us of an update they have received, not always clear what it is or what it means, so it generates more work for us brokers to actually find the reason. And the one magic moment for our clients on their journey is ruined by the lender, and instead of it being enjoyable, the message is often "yes we knew that 30 minutes ago, where is the offer?" - so we are on the back foot again. For most cases, there is little tracking required; it is only where a complication exists, typically a down valuation or affordability issue, and will any of these automated messages really help the borrower? Back to us brokers, I am sure, again on the back foot because of communication improvements. It's obvious what this is leading to for the future, but in the meantime, don't annoy the many hands that feed you.
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Rohit Kohli
Director at The Mortgage Stop
What jars is the implication that brokers are not already keeping clients updated. Most of us have systems and processes in place to do exactly that, so it is fair to ask what problem this is really solving. Client visibility is not a bad thing in itself, but it should support the adviser relationship, not cut across it. If this were an optional service brokers could choose to offer, it would be easier to defend. In practice, lender-led updates often create more contact, not less, because clients come back to us for context, delays, valuation issues and the detail the tracker does not show.
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Shaun Sturgess
Director at Sturgess Mortgage Solutions
Whilst I welcome anything that improves the mortgage process, this feels like lenders trying to grab the client relationship rather than fix their own house first. Lenders are always quick to communicate the good news - but who fields the calls when turnaround times stretch to weeks, underwriters raise queries that make little sense, or valuations come back at figures nobody can justify? That falls on us, the broker. Every time. The 'golden moment' of delivering a mortgage offer to a client is one of the most valuable touch points we have. It builds loyalty, trust, and referrals. Handing that to a push notification strips brokers of something we've earned. More importantly - if NatWest and others genuinely want to improve communication, start with us. Broker-facing systems are often clunky, slow, and lacking in the real-time detail that would actually help us serve clients better. Sort that first.
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Michelle Lawson
Director at Lawson Financial
It's always interesting when lenders want to be the glory-takers but will they also use this technology to be the dream-breakers? Will they equally be so keen to deliver the bad news - I sincerely doubt that and the broker channel will be left clearing up their mess, delays and excuses. There is usually a hidden agenda for this kind of practice and you should be all in or not at all. These things also usually create more problems than they solve for all.
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Bob Singh
Founder at Chess Mortgages
NatWest’s move to join the ranks of Nationwide and Santander to steal brokers’ thunder shouldn’t be seen as a threat or a sinister move to take away our clients. Rather it highlights or masks weaknesses in broker CRMs, which should do the same thing albeit a few minutes later. The more worrying aspect of lenders' acquisition strategies is their dominance of the property portals and reaching out to buyers even before estate agents. Their strategic partnerships with the likes of Rightmove, Zoopla and others are offering near instant AIP’s to entice buyers to apply direct. What’s even more surprising is that these lenders have stakes in these business, which are less publicised. Rightmove’s dominance in the portals war means it won’t be long before we see a fully fledged brokerage pop up.
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Scott Taylor-Barr
Principal Adviser at Barnsdale Financial Management
It is frustrating when lenders (and insurers) choose to communicate directly with a client during the application process, because they are so poor at it. System-generated emails and updates create more confusion than clarity, with the questions and concerns then being picked up by the broker, so creating even more work for us whilst simultaneously taking the "glory" of confirming when the mortgage offer has been issued. There is also the really concerning issue of clients receiving automatic updates to tell them their application has been declined, when in fact a small piece of additional information or something being misinterpreted by an underwriter, is easily resolved when the broker is involved and shouldn't create the stress and panic that an automatic "sorry, we have declined your application" message does.