Mortgage Brokers in Hot Water over Websites

Mortgage creditors have defended their broker websites following a report that claimed that a variety of their sites had hit “rock bottom” in terms of user experience (UX).

In a report printed in June, fiscal experience design bureau Dock9 alleged that the UK’s mortgage giants are increasingly neglecting clients online through their broker websites, with over half (53 percent) of creditors blowing tablet and mobile consumers by failing to plan sites completely suited to their apparatus.

It also said 65 percent of websites are not purpose built mobile websites and are only partially responsive or not responsive at all to cellular and tablet devices, meaning customers have a longer travel than necessary.

Santander, Nationwide and NatWest were deemed the worst offenders concerning the high-street consumer encounter, whereas Aldermore, Dudley and Magellan were rated bottom of this table to get intermediary experiences and web page content.

However, Jeremy Wood, chief executive at Dudley Building Society, hailed the report, that was based on examining of 19 creditors’ websites by Dock9 specialists alongside ‘real-world consumer testing’ by 50 users. He explained; the study hasn’t taken into account that the vast majority of their online participation with agents and packagers is by way of a specially developed multi screen web design, online broker portal site (DPR) rather than through the full website. The agents they deal with all have access to the portal.

The Claims made by Dock 9 simply offer a partial narrative and followed an invitation they left to the broker’s a week prior. There appears to be no qualification about how they picked the 17 creditors from the marketplace and it was intriguing to find that among the customers featured in a few of the greatest spots.

A NatWest Spokesperson commented: “We are always looking to improve our online experience; though the sample size for this survey is small, we welcome any feedback it can give us.” NatWest got a five-star evaluation in the Financial Adviser Service Awards with among those standards according to the online support. Their mortgage website is optimized for simple use on cellular and they are constantly seeking to enhance it.

A Spokesperson for Santander remarked that the lender also obtained a five-star score from Financial Adviser from the Service Awards 2016.

They Added: “We are mobile-focused and continue to develop our online tools to help new customers apply for their mortgage and existing customers to keep track of them.”

An Aldermore spokesperson also mentioned that to be able to make sure that they are best fulfilling the demands of their agents today, and later on, they regularly engage together and take their opinions on board to make sure that they’re providing a competitive service through their mortgage broker websites.

Tesco Bank has been granted full marks for having one of the greatest intermediary websites for mortgage brokers and online experiences — because of their simple yet beautiful site filled with contemporary user interface routines — although Barclays came top for customer encounters.

Rob Jupp, Chief executive in Essex-based Brightstar Financial, commented on the report stating the report is just one he’d easily dismiss since it’s composed by a firm that someone could assert has a vested interest in its own digital content and direction.

Jupp  continued; “frankly, I would rather have adequate human being that I really could talk with than the usual slick website, also in this respect Dudley, Magellan and Aldermore have nothing much to be concerned about.”