A mortgage desk service has been launched by The Nottingham to offer expert advice to brokers on new and ongoing cases.
The service means that in addition to providing technical support, the building society will be able to answer in-depth queries from brokers on a case-by-case basis on buy-to-let, self-build and other areas of the market.
The Nottingham has recruited two members of staff to the mortgage desk, which forms part of a major investment programme underlining its commitment to intermediaries.
Kevin Redfern, who joins the mortgage desk from his adviser role with The Nottingham mortgage team, has also worked as part of the intermediary support team and was previously a CeMap qualified adviser with Nationwide.
Lindsey Hughes, who joins the mortgage desk from the intermediary support team, formerly worked at London & Country, where she held a mortgage administration role supporting brokers with case progression.
Nikki Warren-Dean, head of intermediary sales at The Nottingham, said: “These are key appointments for our team and the addition of a mortgage desk will offer even more support to brokers.
“The development of this new team is part of a major investment programme that will also see us replacing our mortgage broking platform in the New Year to make it even easier for brokers to do business with us.”
Matthew Fleming-Duffy, director at Bournemouth-based Cherry Finance, said it was essential for brokers to be able to speak to lenders about mortgage cases.
“You can read a criteria sheet as much as you like, but it is not always that easy to translate that to a specific case – particularly when there are quirks around overtime, for example,” he explained.
“Talking things through with a human is an absolute necessity. We do it on just about every single case now. Fundamentally, before you proceed and do a credit check, it is pretty much a necessity to speak to these lenders and say ‘can I just check’
“It is one more thumbs up for the building society for what they are doing. The banks camp in the best-buy tables; the building societies tend to be a lot easier to deal with.”
simon.allin@ft.com
