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Mr Marrion said: "We have been placing quite a few cases with Woolwich recently due to all the recent rate changes and I am actually in the process of an application at the moment.

"Currently, it is reacting quite quickly to applications. My only concern is I have been told things might move to a five-day turnaround.

"Generally when placing cases with Woolwich, it is offering a good service. You tend to find it is only if the case falls out of bed for some reason that things start to unravel. With Woolwich, if things are going OK with the case, then you experience very quick turnaround, however, it is when something goes wrong that it seems to go very badly wrong.

"Its online system is fine and I have never had any issue with the staff who have definitely shown an improvement compared with how they were a few months ago.

"Times are a bit slower than what you would hope for in an ideal world, but in the current market it is to be expected that they are going to be inundated with applications and therefore you are just going to have to bear with them.

Lender says...

David Finlay, intermediary business director of Woolwich, said: "As everyone knows there has been a huge contraction in the amount of lenders and products in the mortgage market in the last six months and lenders like ourselves have seen applications go through the roof as we take on more of the market.

"We have been doing our best to manage the flow and have added to staff numbers and given further training where necessary to help cope with demand. We have also seen our online system Max come it to its own in managing cases.

"It is therefore pleasing to hear the adviser has been getting a good service despite the increasing burden on everyone's operations. We of course continue to monitor our processing and servicing levels to ensure we maintain and wherever possible improve standards."

KEY FACTS

Woolwich is part of the Barclays group and has 2014 branches.

The Mortgage Works - Richard Barningham, partner of Cardiff-based IFA firm RM Financial Advice, said The Mortgage Works continued to provide an extremely good service and product range.

Mr Barningham did however have a slight grievance with the fact a certain application he submitted could not be completed online but insisted this was only a minor issue.

He said: "The service I have received from The Mortgage Works has been very good indeed. It is very efficient and has a portfolio product that suits a lot of portfolio landlords. The processing times are pretty good, accuracy is pretty good and the customer service is pretty good.

"Recently we have been getting access to the underwriter, which is great news. It is always useful if you can get to talk to the case manager or underwriter directly. It means you can speak to them regarding particular cases, so they go through more smoothly.

"Unfortunately, the downside is although it has a good online system it does not allow you to do the buy-to-let portfolio. You can do other buy-to-let products on there but if somebody is a portfolio client you have to go through a further application, which is done manually.

"Generally I have experienced a good overall performance from The Mortgage Works."

Lender says...

Andy McQueen, managing director of The Mortgage Works, said: "We are delighted to hear this adviser's positive feedback on our service. We have made a real commitment to enable advisers to speak directly to our underwriters and clearly this has paid off.

"As portfolio cases generally tend to be a little more complex, we feel they benefit from direct contact between the adviser and the underwriter and that it is best on these cases not to operate an automated application process.

"However, we are always keen to learn from intermediaries' feedback so we will take the adviser's comments on board and look at how our system can be further developed in the future."

KEY FACT

The Mortgage Works was formerly the specialist lending subsidiary of Portman Building Society.