The world loves league tables. From football to schools, we rate everything by how good it is and now it’s the turn of the lender. The online forum 1BigTable will launch to the industry on 4 September and will allow brokers to rank lenders according to service standards. Intended as an arena for brokers to voice their opinion and discuss their experiences, the forum has been largely welcomed by lenders.
Each month 1BigTable will publish its league table, based on the ratings brokers give each lender’s service. The forum is designed to be an awareness tool for brokers, but the concept has garnered favour among lenders as a valuable insight into what brokers think of their business. Sally Lauder, press manager for Alliance & Leicester (A&L), says: “Anything that gives lenders an indication of what brokers are thinking and feeling is good. We do listen to feedback from brokers and make changes as a result. We’re always trying to be as efficient as we can and the forum may flag up things we hadn’t thought of before.”
Gaining feedback
Simon Evans, relationship manager for Scarborough Building Society, welcomes the chance to gain constructive feedback from intermediaries. “As a lender, we have put a lot of effort into building broker relationships, particularly over the past few years, and have established a number of key accounts and individual partnerships as a result. Gaining broker feedback is central to this process and we are conscious that we need to know what kinds of product and service solutions brokers need.
“I hope the broker forum will offer another means of gaining this insight, which will help the industry to continue to develop in response to a fast-changing marketplace.”
Tom Gurrie, head of intermediary sales for Chelsea Building Society, likewise values the chance to hear brokers’ opinions and adds: “Provided the feedback accurately reflects the views of a wide range of brokers, this should be a positive asset to the intermediary market.”
Facing the pressure
But Bernard Clarke, communications manager at the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), believes the creation of the forum reflects how much pressure lenders face in the marketplace to provide the service brokers expect. He says: “This is another example of how competition requires lenders to deliver better products and higher standards of service.”
This view is echoed by Simon Biddle, head of marketing and communications for Infinity Mortgages. He says: “We’re not afraid of being rated, but other lenders may not feel the same way. It depends on their service standards. But it goes both ways. For those that have poor service, the league table will put their heels to the fire to improve. But for those with good service, it’s a dual sword of having to keep it up. Lenders can get spikes in business and find it difficult to handle, but it’s hard to communicate that with the market. If brokers understand that, then it helps.”
But Biddle does caution that the forum’s value will lie in brokers giving a balanced point of view. “We would rely on the brokers using the forum fairly and properly. We’re keen on a two-way dialogue, as this is a people business. The forum is a simple litmus test of what the market thinks of how you’re doing business. But you can’t keep everyone happy all the time. I would like to think brokers wouldn’t just put up something on the forum without being able to back it up. There’s no value in ranting and letting off steam. It doesn’t do the broker or the lender any good.”
Open communication
While the forum will be a place brokers can discuss any of the issues they have with the industry, Lauder believes lenders should look at it from a broad point of view. She expplains: “We always have to take things in a balanced way and pick the things we can do realistically. If there was a recurring thing coming up, then we would talk to the brokers we deal with on a regular basis and see if there was something in it. It’s all about listening to the broker. Some things we might be able to change and others might not be possible. But A&L does have open communications with brokers and has a handle on its strengths and the things it may need to work on.”
Yet for Biddle, what it comes down to the simple fact that lenders are in the service industry. “Our customers, the brokers, live and die by the service we provide. It’s a service industry and anyone who things otherwise shouldn’t be in it. We’re very supportive of intermediaries getting together and very keen to hear from the market and of the problems there may be.
“1BigTable is an excellent idea. Brokers should have done this year ago, as I believe what is often overlooked is the communicative power of the collective voice.”
