Complaints about service levels are not new, but brokers have expressed frustration that there has been no sign of improvement since the first Covid-19 lockdown when home working became more widespread.
“The frustrating thing is that service levels have been dreadful since the beginning of the pandemic. Lenders have had three years to get their house in order but have failed to do so,” said Mike Staton, director at Staton Mortgages.
Staton put it down to “profit over service” and described the service he has received from some lenders as “completely unacceptable”.
In one instance, Staton waited 28 days for an underwriter to pick up a case.
It also makes you not want to use that lender in certain cases due to service levels Anil Mistry, RNR Mortgage Solutions “It's hard to understand why lenders are happy to provide such a poor service, with increased volumes of applications and increased profit margins, they can easily afford to increase their workforce,” he said.
Another broker said in one incident with a high street lender, he was transferred between six different staff members.
“It’s a nightmare right now, dogs barking, delivery men turning up. It doesn’t work for what should be a call centre environment where you could ask a colleague for assistance,” he said.
He gave Barclays as another example and said he has experienced significant delays when using its live chat feature when trying to get a case update.
When he did finally get a response after waiting an hour, he was only given a two minute window to reply before he was pushed back into the queue and made to wait again.
When asked about these delays, a Barclays' spokesperson told FTAdviser that it is working hard to speed things up.
“We are currently receiving a high number of chat requests and calls into our mortgages team, which means it may take us longer than we’d like to respond. We would like to thank brokers and customers for their patience," the spokesperson said.
In June, FTAdviser also reported broker frustrations over lender service levels.
At the time, brokers described them as the “worst” they have known them to be in years but since then, the fallout from the ‘mini’ Budget has meant lenders and brokers are both under even more pressure.
Some brokers are so frustrated that they think a return to a full scale call centre environment is necessary.
RNR Mortgage Solutions director, Anil Mistry said: “Currently, when calling lenders for updates and/or criteria queries, we can spend in excess of one-hour waiting for someone to answer.”
“When you are a 'one-man band' brokerage this takes up a lot of time and, potentially, impacts the service you want to give to your clients.
“It also makes you not want to use that lender in certain cases due to service levels,” he said.
But lenders are holding firm on their position on flexible working.
A Nationwide spokesperson said the bank continues to “take a position of flexibility regarding how and where colleagues work most effectively”.
“This is based around balancing the individual, team, member and, in this case, broker needs. We continue to offer the best possible service to brokers and borrowers alike, which remains our number one priority,” the spokesperson said.
“We currently take an average of three days to review documents and 13 days to move from application to offer. Our timescales are clearly outlined on our website and updated on a daily basis to manage expectations,” he added.
Santander said it operates a hybrid working policy for employees and allows them to split their time between the office and at home.
A spokesperson for the bank said it is committed to delivering a strong service for its broker partners and that it is currently operating within its anticipated service levels.
The spokesperson also pointed out that brokers can check its service levels online and that this is updated daily.
Employees want to WFH
While some brokers are concerned about the impact of home working, the ability to do so remains a top priority for UK employees.
Research released this week by Moneypenny found that flexible working was in the top three ‘perks’ desired by UK adults when looking for a new job, just behind a pension and sick pay.
Not all brokers have concerns about bank staff working from home however, with some quick to point out that it is a benefit enjoyed by plenty of brokers.
Owner of Shaw Financial Services, Lewis Shaw said while lender service levels aren’t excellent at the moment, it’s understandable “with so much economic volatility”.
“There are more significant problems than working from home, which, if fixed, would have a positive effect.
“That said, many brokers forget that lenders are our paymasters. It seems silly to go after them when they try their best,” Shaw said.
Graham Cox, director at Self Employed Mortgage Hub agreed.
“Maybe there's an element of working from home causing problems, but I'm not convinced. After all, employers can still see an employee's output,” he said.
“Personally, I think the main issue is the lenders are extremely busy and it's a very challenging environment right now, with constant rate changes, and surging demand for those lenders who have not withdrawn products.
However, Cox did acknowledge that lenders could cut down their workload if they made their online platforms more user-friendly.
“Some of the worst culprits are the household name lenders. Poorly worded application questions and criteria, unintuitive, confusing and glitchy forms and inadequate communication are my biggest bugbears,” he said.
Another broker added: “I actually feel for lenders staff at present as I’m sure the pressure is on them as much as it is us”.
jane.matthews@ft.com
