Ian Crampton, sales director at Ferndown Ltd, explained how he was championing the cause of smaller lenders where possible, naming Norwich & Peterborough, Stroud & Swindon and Nottingham building societies as the lenders – albeit on a whole-of-market basis – who are currently offering brokers great service.
The aforementioned – ranked by society assets – are the 14th, 15th and16th largest building societies as at June 2005.
Crampton added: “All three lenders have produced offers on difficult cases quickly and efficiently with accurate KFIs and offers within 14 days. Now compare that against Nationwide, the largest building society, whose service is slow and has produced inaccurate offers and poor administration for the past six months.
“This means I’m going to fight the cause of the smaller lender whenever I can. Not only will this mean we get an accurate offer for our client within a reasonable time but I might also get a slightly better night’s sleep.”
Paul Hearnden, managing director of My Mortgage Direct, commented: “I agree that the smaller guys are winning the service battle hands down. The larger lenders at the cut and thrust of the competitive rates are generally suffering on service.
“The three mentioned provide good service; in particular I have had many good dealings with the Nottingham. I would also give a very favourable mention to Clydesdale Bank whose service has been exemplary lately, whereas Alliance & Leicester has been terrible for the past six months.”
Mehrdad Yousefi, head of intermediary mortgages at Alliance & Leicester, said: “We pride ourselves on the level of service we offer to brokers and the overwhelming feedback we get is they are very satisfied. Our turnaround times on application to offer are among the fastest and most consistent in the industry.”
