Tech impact on the market

As we all know, tech is moving faster than the speed of light. Developments to criteria platforms and CRMs continue to help brokers give good, accurate advice and improve processes for customers. But even though the criteria elements are a good starting point, there's a need for greater capacity to deal with nuance and accuracy.

I'd like to see further developments with open banking that helps clients share accurate information with brokers seamlessly. Getting bank statements from multiple bank accounts is a clunky part of the process. There's more need for systems designers to work with brokers so they can refine the process and make it more useful

With the likes of Mpowered mortgages now using AI to help speed up their underwriting process it would be great to see more lenders investing in this technology.

Like everything with technology I’m sure they experience teething problems with it but I’ve used the system a few times and found it fantastic. Some of the bigger lenders could certainly learn a thing or two from the likes of Mpowered mortgages.

The answer to this question is Open Banking; if it’s not, it should be.

People often fall into the trap of chasing the next shiny thing when it comes to tech however in terms of tangible benefits Open Banking helps to improve both the speed of an application and significantly reduces the threat of Mortgage fraud.

We can all talk about AI and its potential all day however Open Banking is here now and not being utilised enough by the industry.

Some lenders have started auto-verifying employed income, as well as doing automated valuations. This means that in some cases we have lenders that can issue a mortgage offer on the same day as the application is submitted. Developments like this are most welcome. Perhaps one innovation that would follow on from this could be a lender auto-verifying self employed income ? Would any lender be bold enough to do this !

What has made the biggest impact has been desktop valuations, especially for remortgages as it makes the process so much smoother for the client, they are not having to arrange to let a valuer into their property, and it also means that we can get an offer in a matter of hours with the correct lender and the whole process becomes a whole lot less painful for the client, which encourages them to shop around more rather than just staying with their current lender and accepting whatever rate their current lender is offering because its easier and less hassle. In my opinion, whatever makes the remortgaging process easier and less of an inconvenience for a client is a good thing.