The Electronic Identification facility signals an end to lengthy documentary evidence procedures for many intermediaries and their customers.
Through clickdecision, the system will now automatically check the identity of the mortgage applicants, rather than relying on the cumbersome gathering of hard copy documentation by the intermediary or solicitor. On an approved decision, if the ID is verified, no further information will be required and in the rare event of the system being unable to verify the ID, an item will be added to the ‘Shopping List’ notifying the intermediary what needs to be provided with the application.
All lenders are obliged by Anti-Money Laundering regulations to obtain evidence of the personal identity and address of prospective mortgage holders and this new system meets these obligations.
Since the launch of clickdecision in July, intermediaries have submitted nearly 40,000 decisions online (around 600 a day) with nearly 80% of these being approved within seconds by Platform. Subsequently, new business volumes in the last three months have increased dramatically and are double those received prior to the launch of clickdecision. Also, website traffic has increased from 100 visitors a day to well over 1200.
Guy Batchelor, sales & marketing director at Platform, commented;
“Requiring intermediaries to obtain, copy, certify and post ID evidence such as passports, imposes a burden on our clients and their customers, a burden which is unnecessary now that we can verify identity electronically, via Platform’s new E-ID facility. This facility will drastically simplify the process of submitting mortgage applications to us for intermediaries and will undoubtedly reduce the time it takes to process applications. With the subject of electronic checking being raised in a recent working report from the Financial Services Authority (FSA), we believe such facilities will eventually become the norm. To introduce this along with binding decisions, cascade underwriting and an easy to use system, clickdecision remains the most complete online decision system in the specialist sector.”
“Over three months ago we launched clickdecision and in that short period of time, it has revolutionised our business. Along with help from improved products and a strong brand presence, we have experienced tremendous growth across all our major product areas (Buy to Let, Self-Certification and Non-Conforming). Our next challenge is to maintain this growth and continue to offer cutting edge online solutions along with competitive products that intermediaries now expect from us.”
