Sam Archer, head of mortgages UK at Experian Decision Analytics, made the statement as she spoke on underwriting and credit scoring issues at the Mortgage Business Expo in London. She encouraged brokers to look at non-conforming portfolios and assess whether it would work for the consumer in the long term.
Intermediaries were encouraged to discuss risk with both the lender and consumer and take past arrears into account. Archer argued that if an account had been stable for a while, then the consumer could get a better product.
She explained: “Some consumers prefer to pay their credit card or mobile phone rather than the mortgage, as if they don’t pay the phone it will get cut off, while the mortgage process is more lengthy. It is really about segmenting further to understand how the consumer will behave.”
Archer encouraged brokers to look at the consumer and assess the risk from the set categories, score them, looking at CCJs and arrears, then attribute the product. She claimed that lending prudently was becoming more widely important to ensure affordability is assessed.
Following the introduction of a validifying model, Archer encouraged brokers to use it to assess as where consumers had risk but were now more fluent, they could now afford more than they’re applying for.
When asked by the audience on what credit information was available to brokers on the consumer, Archer said: “You have to be a supplier to share information, and Experian has some brokers who do that. We would like to do more with brokers and we have talked to the Council of Mortgage Lenders about helping advisers make better decisions with control remaining in the right hands.”
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