Hanley Economic Building Society has temporarily halted new lending in order to complete the overhaul of its mortgage processing platform.
The lender withdrew all mortgage products from the direct and intermediary market on Friday (February 12), and is aiming to relaunch the products in the second quarter of the year.
Hanley Economic said it would focus on servicing existing applications while it improves its mortgage platform.
It has been working with fintech provider DPR since April to overhaul the platforms, which will see the establishment of a broker portal that will provide an overview of case management and progress.
Further system enhancements will include the ability to securely upload documents, rather than emailing them to the provider, and ensuring brokers are unable to submit a case that the lender cannot accept.
David Lownds, head of marketing and business development at Hanley Economic Building Society, said: “Work has been going on behind the scenes since April 2020 to transform our mortgage systems to ensure that we move to a more modern model which better reflects the innovative nature of the society.
“This process is almost complete and we have taken the step to temporarily halt new mortgage lending so that we can make this final transition as quickly and efficiently as possible.
“It marks the beginning of a new chapter for the society and when we return to the lending market, which will be sooner rather than later, we believe that we will be in a far stronger position to better service the ever-changing needs of our intermediary partners and their clients.”
From today (February 15) the lender’s broker helpdesk will also be operating on shorter hours, from 9am to 1pm.
A spokesperson for the society said: “We are operating shorter hours so we can continue to support those brokers who have ongoing cases with us, however this ensures our team have a certain amount of their working day to test the new systems.
“By dedicating this time we are hopeful it will aid the speed of development.”
chloe.cheung@ft.com
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