Brokers - what do you look for from a sourcing system?

A great sourcing system should effectively be a one stop shop CRM, it should allow straight through processing of a case, allow ID&V , have the ability to pull through the clients credit report and apply this to the lenders criteria whilst sourcing. In addition to this, affordability should be calculated via the lenders affordability calculator to provide an indication at sourcing stage. Saying this, vital tech support and step by step instructions need to be available to assist users. As tech progresses any system that does not incorporate this will be left behind in the dust.

In the simplest sense, the key to a good sourcing system is for it to have no 'false negatives'. i.e. you don't want the system to exclude anything that might be relevant. Every system I have seen unfortunately does this, which is entirely counterproductive. Good brokers are therefore 'lying' to the system to get the fullest list of options that they then check themselves. Bad brokers are trusting the system to include/exclude the products for them. If you have ever tested the system's competence in doing so, it gets it wrong every time; it will exclude some options the client is eligible for. Sourcing systems need to go back to basics. Only product parameters such as LTV, rate length and type, loan size, repayment type should cause exclusions. Anything else (criteria/affordability) should be optionally bolted on and 'eligibility' highlighted rather than excluded/included. Sourcing providers need to know that good mortgage brokers are having to hotwire your systems and work around them

Sourcing systems are the lifeblood of any mortgage advisor, the greater the flexibility within the system allows for products to be whittled down to the most appropriate product. For example you don't want a BTL product when looking for an HMO.

We have seen several platforms enhance their system over the last 12 months, however, the reliability is down to the accuracy of the lender's information within. We saw in Q3 last year, some products were invalid and the ability to keep up with a rapidly changing market was demanding for the broker as well as the systems around us.

One key function we always talk about is the ability to free text search to allow pinpoint product titles and product-specific information, as this helps with complex cases.

With constantly improving systems and enhanced features like direct-to-DIP, the tools in the tool box just keep getting sharper.

There are only two important factors when it comes to a sourcing system; ease of use and accuracy of data. As long as I can easily input the criteria and get a robust set of results back that I can then reply on to underpin my advice, that's all I ask of any system. If I was to expand beyond that then it's the number of data points I can search in one go; basic criteria are a must, more complex criteria are great and if it can do affordability on top then even better; currently these are dealt with by three separate systems, so integration of these into one research tool is the ultimate goal.