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Lenders approving mortgages in 60 seconds

Journalist: Rachel Mortimer, The Times and Sunday Times

ended 22. May 2023

Have heard that Barclays is making offers 60 seconds after a mortgage application has been submitted via a broker. This is obviously great for the borrower and gets the process moving, but are there any risks involved here? Can due diligence be properly done in 60 seconds? 

Any thoughts very welcome! Thank you. 

3 responses from the Newspage community

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Justin Moy
Managing Director at EHF Mortgages
Several lenders have adopted some great technology and can verify income and property details against national agencies to reduce the need for documents and physical valuations. Income can be verified against HMRC data to show that it matches what has been declared in the application. If there are sufficient levels of property transactions in the local area of the property, the price can be verified too. There will also be a check on whether any property is in a flood-risk area or subsidence has been reported in the area. Any online valuation process does come with risk, as individual properties may have issues that would be normally checked on a physical inspection, but we would always recommend your own survey to check on the condition, issues and repairs that may be required. The lenders' valuation is really just for their benefit, to assess value and overall risk.
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Clive Read
Owner at Goldmanread
In the past many lenders worked on what was termed a "Limited Underwriting" basis. Essentially this was a form of self-certification of income whereby the lender would accept whatever income an applicant declared as long as their credit score was high enough and everything else about the application stacked up.
Although on the face of it, this would appear to be a return to that form of lending assessment, it's not. Lenders now have access to a much wider range of information than in the past i.e. links to HMRC records, online tax returns, open banking as well as more extensive credit reports. With an additional layer of security being added by the broker who will verify all of the information input into the application, Barclays obviously feel comfortable that the level of due diligence being carried out is sufficient for their requirements.
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Gary Bush
Financial Adviser at MortgageShop.com
It's clear that with the right systems and joined-up thinking providing a mortgage offer can take only 60 seconds - the technology is there if the lender is willing to invest in the right systems.