Charles Haresnape, managing director of residential lending at Aldermore, said: "It's amazing that lenders still believe they can provide a satisfactory service to intermediaries, without being willing to talk to them!
“All the feedback we receive at Aldermore confirms that brokers value highly the ability to talk to lenders about product criteria and clients' applications. In most instances a quick call is all it takes to confirm if a case is likely to be acceptable or not; why do lenders find it so difficult to provide such an important service?
“At Aldermore we welcome calls from brokers who want to discuss potential deals and we encourage them to phone us."
Yesterday NatWest Intermediary Solutions announced that from 3 May all pre-sale mortgage enquiries would be handled by its instant messaging service LiveTALK. Brokers will still have a dedicated business development manager who they can speak to face-to-face and on the phone.
The IM service will be manned by its sales support team who will be available to answer questions about lending criteria, product availability, latest rates and application packaging requirements.
The service has already been used for more than 20,000 conversations in the first quarter of this year and has been consistent in achieving around a 90% satisfaction rating from brokers using this service.
For any enquires regarding a submitted application brokers will be able to phone the processing centre on the usual number.
Mark Bullard, head of sales at NatWest Intermediary Solutions, said: “We have been using LiveTALK as one of our core communication channels with brokers for more than three years and have witnessed a huge increase in its usage.
“We have enhanced the service over this period and, from the customer satisfaction scores achieved, know that brokers regard it very highly as a contact tool. We are very aware of the frustrations people experience when placed in a phone queue; with LiveTALK, brokers will be able to commence their conversation almost immediately and get the answers they want with minimum fuss.
“We have an experienced and highly skilled team of people who conduct the LiveTALK conversations and I am confident that those intermediaries who haven’t yet used it will be delighted with the service they receive.”
