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Tony Catt, sole practitioner of Hove-based Tony Catt IFA, said he enjoyed his experience with Leek and felt the building society was a "breath of fresh air". He found the pleasant experience was quite a novelty in the current market.

Mr Catt said: "Its service is very good and I enjoyed how it seemed to worked in real time, which is quite a novelty these days.

"I was passed onto its Derby branch, where I could always get to speak to the branch manager whenever I wanted and he was certainly the first line decision maker, which was encouraging.

"The only real down side to Leek was it would not actually pay me as an intermediary so that had to be dealt with separately through client fees.

" I used a paper application but it was dealt with quite efficiently and quickly. In short, I really quite liked it. I felt it was sensible and its dealings were straight down the line."

Lender says...

John Foxall, head of retail development for Leek United Building Society, said: "It is always pleasing to receive complimentary comments particularly regarding customer service, which is of paramount importance to Leek United Building Society.

"We aim to differentiate ourselves by being both responsive and effective. We appreciate consumer choice is extensive and with the busy lifestyles most of us lead it is important we ask the right questions to enable us to make a decision quickly.

"All our staff are trained to a high standard and we ensure we have suitably qualified mortgage advisers in all our branches. This supports our goals of assisting people quickly and effectively.

"We are certainly not unique in recent times by not offering procuration fees to intermediaries. We have however maintained a competitive suite of mortgage products that are widely publicised through our branches and website.

"We are unchanged in terms of its commitment to traditional mutual values but transformed by the application of technology and modern business methods."

FACT

Leek United is the twenty-fifth largest building society in the UK.

Halifax

Kieran Brophy, partner of Surrey-based intermediary Integrity Financial Management, said the general service from Halifax was pretty good considering current conditions and he thought the lender stood out above the other big lenders for efficiency at the moment.

Mr Brophy said: "In general the service we have been receiving from Halifax has been very good.

"The speed and standard of its response is always good. I was regularly updated as to the progress of the application and Halifax constantly informed us about what was going on or if any issues arose.

"In addition, the online system is certainly one of the best and easiest online systems to work with and it is much better than average in regards to customer service, including getting through to people on the telephone and not being put on hold for hours.

"It is the ones we have been dealing with lately, and in comparison to some of the other big lenders, who have not been great recently, Halifax is pretty reliable."

Lender says...

Ian Wilson, head of sales for Halifax Intermediaries, said : "We take great pride in our service proposition so it is great to hear such positive adviser feedback. It is our role to make it as easy as possible for intermediaries to do business with us so the Halifax Intermediaries online system can be used for all types of applications including product transfers, household insurance and mortgage repayment cover, all of which are supported by our hard-working colleagues.

"We recognise the importance of quality service but will continually aim to improve the service we provide. By listening to and embracing these comments we can endeavour to make our proposition better, benefiting both advisers and customers."

FACT

Halifax is named after the eponymous town in West Yorkshire where it retains its headquarters.