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Anne Bradley, director of Cumbria-based AMB Mortgages Ltd, was extremely pleased with the fantastic service she recently received from her local business development manager.

Ms Bradley felt most BDMs at the moment were hard to get hold of but the service from Skipton's BDM was "very good" as he literally went that extra mile.

She said: "Skipton is a small building society compared with many but it offers a good deal and with the market being like it is at the moment, when I saw this deal was perfect for my client I immediately called our representative at Skipton.

"He said the best way to proceed with the application was online. Skipton were piloting a new system and the service was not available yet through the Skipton for Intermediaries website, so he sent me the necessary link.

"He suggested I did it as quickly as I could. I did a decision in principle and the following morning I got it through on the fax machine saying that it had been accepted. I then called the BDM to ask what I should do next and whether he could send me the same link again, as the original had been deleted.

"Later on he called me back to say the product was about to be pulled so I had to act fast. The only real choice I had was to use the online system but even this was impossible, so the BDM tried to get the head office to accept it on fax declarations. However Skipton would not accept signatures by fax.

"As I had done everything right, and he did not want me to miss this deal, the BDM offered to come and pick up the documents from me, drive to get them signed by the client and then deliver them to the society.

"He set off at half five in the morning and met the client who was on his way to Newcastle. The client gave him the signed documentation and the BDM took it to the Skipton office. Thanks to him we got the deal."

Lender says...

Kevin Young, business development manager for Lancashire and Cumbria for Skipton Building Society, said: "I believe it is important to go the extra mile for clients and I am pleased my efforts were appreciated. It is essential BDMs remain visible during this challenging time in order to maintain confidence in the market. Now, more than ever, the bond between adviser and BDM should be at its strongest. This turbulent climate – with deals pulled daily – means advisers must be kept up-to-date on products and services, as well as the niche areas that lenders specialise in, ensuring cases are placed smoothly. The adviser and BDM relationship is at the heart of Skipton's business model. We believe our drive to go further to deliver great service will place us at the forefront of the market and, more importantly, adviser's minds when conditions improve."

FACT

Skipton is the UK's seventh largest building society.

Abbey

James Carter, principal of London-based IFA Independent James, had no real problems with using Abbey and appreciated having good interest rates in the current market meant the lender was swamped with business. He said for an adviser it was all about timing and managing clients' expectations.

Mr Carter said: "I have recently placed a lot of clients with Abbey because they had a good three-year fixed rtae. It has been doing okay in terms of service. The main thing is you have to give plenty of time to do remortgages now because any lenders with decent rates are going to get swamped due to the fact they are few and far between. I found Abbey's service pretty good considering the amount of business they must be doing. Their speed of response was pretty much what I expected. It is all about managing clients' expectations and when it comes to remortgage business, making sure you do that well in advance, as timing is key. While there are still some half decent rates about, find them before they go and get the application in on time. The staff at Abbey were generally fine, but the online system is an absolute nightmare. I tend to use their offline system, which just sits on your computer and is much better because it is a lot quicker. Online it is moving from one tab to another and it just takes forever, whereas if you do it offline it is much smoother and therefore more useful for processing applications with Abbey."

Lender says...

Ricky Okey, managing director of Abbey for Intermediaries, said: "The simple truth is that very few banks and building societies remain lending in the current market and of those that are, any that offer rates at a market leading level will be inundated by applications as intermediaries try and secure the best rates for their clients. It is the logical result of continuing to lend in this difficult market and as such Abbey are experiencing unprecedented demand for our products, which in turn is placing high demands on our service capability. By being open with intermediaries about our capabilities during this period, in time we can make sure expectations can be set at reasonable standards for both advisers and their clients. As you would expect, Abbey is examining every conceivable way to maintain a high standard of service including maintaining its policy of offering a pre-emptive warning to intermediaries of any changes to our product range. We are aware of the concerns regarding the online application system and we are currently investing in building a new system to meet all the current requirements of intermediaries and hope to unveil the results to advisers very soon."

FACT

Abbey has been part of the Santander Group since 2004. Santander is the seventh largest bank in the world by profit.