These findings will be time and date stamped and the broker will be able to be save them to PDF and add them to a CRM system or print them out and add them to the client’s file.
Knowledge Bank is now providing detailed evidence of research for criteria searches, which is the first time that this has been available to the mortgage market.
These findings will be time and date stamped and the broker will be able to be save them to PDF and add them to a CRM system or print them out and add them to the client’s file.
A broker will now also be able to personalise their results, not only with their name and company, but also with the client’s name and address, details of the property amount, the loan amount and term and the repayment method.
Philip Smith, compliance manager, First Mortgage (NE) said: “Knowledge Bank has helped me greatly when undertaking file checks particularly as to why certain lenders have been recommended, especially if they do not feature particularly well in the traditional product sourcing systems.
“The fact that advisers are able to supplement their traditional research with documented evidence of criteria driven research is of great benefit.
“More importantly our clients receive a better experience as a result, as we are now able to identify with greater certainty the lender most likely to be able to assist and thus save vital time no longer applying to the wrong lender in the first instance.”
It will also have an area for a broker to record their reasons for recommending a particular lender. These findings will complement the results of any product sourcing research so that every broker has a complete, robust file which would pass even the strictest of compliance audits.
This will be particularly useful where the broker needs to recommend a product that is not the cheapest.
With complaints from a client questioning their choice of lender, a broker is reliant on any notes they made on the client’s fact find and in their suitability letter.
Now they can evidence without printing out pages from lenders’ websites or recording all telephone calls.
Searches for lenders who accept specific criteria are now possible in seconds on Knowledge Bank and it will also provide security and comfort to compliance managers.
Nicola Firth, chief executive of Knowledge Bank, said: “Knowledge Bank is providing the missing piece of the jigsaw where evidence of research is concerned.
“The FCA requires brokers to provide evidence of research for their recommendations to their clients, but until now this has not been entirely possible.
“Up until this point, the industry has taken evidence of research to mean ‘save product sourcing results’.
“When cases were placed based on product alone this was indeed the most important element, but criteria is now so vital to lenders, that many borrowers do not qualify for the product which is at the top of the product sourcing results.”
