Customers want mortgage lenders to go digital
NEARLY three quarters of homeowners want mortgage lenders to go digital, according to research carried out by online mortgage broker Trussle.
The survey of 2,000 UK mortgage borrowers found that over 40 per cent rated the mortgage experience stressful, with paperwork and jargon regarded as the biggest causes.
Borrowers overwhelmingly called for mortgage lenders to go digital in order to alleviate that stress, with 73 per cent of respondents requesting online access to mortgage balances and 70 per cent in favour of downloadable statements.
“I’ve experienced the frustration of struggling to secure a mortgage first-hand. There‘s too much jargon, too much complexity, and not enough transparency,” said Ishaan Malhi, chief executive and founder of Trussle.
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“Millions of people lose out not only financially, but emotionally as a result. Your mental health is no less important than your financial or physical health, so I’d like to see modern brands working hard to reduce the friction and stress of their products and services.
“The mortgage sector has traditionally been one of the worst offenders, with 40 per cent of borrowers finding the process stressful and a third sitting on the wrong mortgage, collectively spending £15bn a year too much on interest as a result.”
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The research, which was carried out to mark Stress Awareness Month this April, found that some borrowers risk lapsing onto their lender’s high-interest standard variable rate (SVR) deal while attempting to remortgage, due to time-consuming paperwork. The average customer lapsing onto their lender’s SVR would pay almost £400 more each month, the research found.
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