IS THIS AFFECTING YOUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH SOME LENDERS?

Shazad Ahmed, director at Elan Property Finance

Relationships with lenders are becoming strained, mainly because of the lack of notice for changes made without any context. The reasons for these last-minute revisions have been so wide ranging—from cost of funds to staffing and service levels—and this really shows which lenders have the capacity and ability to function in a period of instability. At the end of the day, we are dealing with people buying houses as an investment, so some logic and common sense need to be applied with a focus on people over profits. BDMs, on the whole, are compassionate and empathetic about the broker experience; however, even they are bound by their employers’ policies. At this point, it is clear which lenders are less prone to changes, and which provide a more reasonable notice time before any amendments. How brokers and, ultimately, customers have been treated during this period is something that I personally will keep at the back of my mind in future. It is also something that can be mentioned at point of recommendation as something a client should consider, aside from rate and cost.

Meir Peer, director at Redi Finance

I don’t think the sudden changes have impacted my relationship with anyone. The same way I wouldn’t want the client to blame me for a last-minute change to their loan, I don’t hold any individual at a lender responsible either. I think you find that a lot of BDMs will ring or email you as soon as they know when a change in rate or criteria is going into effect, and that really helps when setting expectations for your customers. Luckily, there will be someone else, more often than not, with whom you can place a deal when it no longer fits elsewhere— however, the most important aspect is time. With loan progression moving so slowly these days, you can only hope that if there was a scenario that brought on changes, you at least have time to make things happen for your client. I think most brokers will always have their favourite handful of finance providers for different deal types. Whether it is residential, commercial or anything else, if the product on offer is the right one for the client, I love approaching the lenders that have always provided good service and have proven to be trustworthy from their track record.

Matthew Rowne, director at The Buy to Let Broker

We are incredibly privileged to benefit from strong commercial relationships with nearly all specialist lenders, which have been established over many years through a foundation of collaboration, a commercial respect for the quality of the business that we introduce to lenders, and the comprehensive nature of the way we package cases. There will, of course, be times when eleventh-hour changes to lender policy or products will negatively impact a client solution. However, while representing a customer, a brokerage also needs to remain empathetic to a lender’s issues and educate clients as to why changes have been introduced. Client knowledge and education enable one to manage borrower expectations, and a professional brokerage will help ensure that finance providers do not suffer reputational damage— especially during such challenging and volatile times.

Kim McGinley, director at VIBE Specialist Finance

Some lenders definitely stood out by a mile when it came to their last-minute product changes. Also, those that gave brokers realistic deadlines to get cases over were appreciated so much more, particularly as brokers have been under serious pressure, with many suffering burnout towards the end of last year after working so hard to secure rates and products for their clients. On the other hand, you had lenders who made changes with no warning at all. Some BDMs have been great throughout this whole time, staying in regular contact to keep relationships going, even when the company they have been working for has been struggling with timescales or workloads, and those relationships have really strengthened. I would say it has affected our lender partnerships with those who gave no notice or withdrew products on cases, even those with a valuation, much further down the line. On the back of that, we are having honest conversations with customers about choosing to go with another lender.