Mortgage Brain is the leading provider of technology to the mortgage industry, developing and delivering the best software solutions for mortgage intermediaries since 1986. Its suite of products provides advisers with an end-to-end journey from sourcing to conveyancing.

Mortgage Brain strives to transform mortgage sourcing through constant innovation and remains the only provider to offer both offline and online product sourcing through MortgageBrain Classic and MortgageBrain Anywhere. The latter has recently been redesigned with a new look and feel to make the mortgage journey even more intuitive. The full suite of solutions are designed to make an adviser’s existing processes more efficient and accurate.

By combining product, criteria, and affordability sourcing it enables advisers to identify the most suitable mortgage quickly and easily. However, one question we are often asked is “where should I start with mortgage sourcing?”.

Sourcing is an adviser’s 'mortgage research' and the main elements can be categorised as:

• Products available (MortgageBrain Classic or MortgageBrain Anywhere)
• Criteria (Criteria Hub)
• Affordability (Affordability Hub)

Covering all three areas enables advisers to ensure the recommended mortgage fits a customer’s criteria, is affordable to them, and is the most suitable product.

So where should an adviser start?

The starting point depends on the individual customer and their specific needs. Below are three scenarios highlighting where it would make sense to start research in each set of circumstances.

1. A young professional couple, with no debts, no dependants, both in full-time employment earning £50,000 each, looking to purchase a standard built house for £300,000 with a deposit of £150,000.

It is likely that criteria and affordability are not the main concern (they would only need 1.5 times income). So, identifying the best product available with the lowest rate of interest for their preferred scheme with a product sourcing system such as MortgageBrain Classic or MortgageBrain Anywhere would be the best place to start.

2. A sole trader who has been self-employed for 18 months with only one year’s accounts, is looking to purchase a property that has overhead power lines running above the property, which might cause lenders concern.

The applicant has a 30% deposit but has found some lenders require him to provide at least two years’ accounts to be considered for a mortgage. The primary focus here is not rate but rather if he can get a mortgage, given the circumstances? In this scenario, checking his criteria needs against options available utilising a system such as Criteria Hub would be the best place to start.

3. A single person in full-time employment is looking to buy a property for £300,000 with a 15% deposit, so they need to borrow the remaining balance of £255,000.

A client’s fact find captures their income, expenditure, and overall household profile and £255,000 might not be affordable for them. Again, the rate is a secondary consideration, as are criteria, the main concern is what a lender will deem as affordable. Whilst this can be undertaken manually by visiting individual lender sites, using a tool such as Affordability Hub would enable an adviser to quickly check if the amount the customer wishes to borrow is achievable from a range of selected lenders, all at once!

These scenarios demonstrate there is not a one size fits all approach and illustrate how the latest technology can streamline mortgage research making existing processes more efficient and accurate, and allowing advisers to give customers more choice in a fraction of the time.

Utilising leading systems such as Criteria Hub, Affordability Hub, and MortgageBrain Classic and Anywhere as standalone platforms can refine the process but become even more powerful when used together. Integration of these solutions now provides a seamless end to end mortgage journey for advisers.

Time-saving technology

Time is money, and with cases becoming ever more complex, it’s easy for an adviser to spend more time than they would like matching criteria for a client, when in fact the processes could be streamlined by embracing technology.

Criteria Hub makes complex criteria easy to match with results that are clearly laid out and simple to follow, and advanced filtering columns, included within its integration to product sourcing, allows an adviser to drill down into results that can be grouped by a lender, rate, or a custom grouping.

This is reflected by more advisers utilising the multi-search function within Criteria Hub which enables them to select up to 6 criteria at a time to source for complex cases in a single click.

Time savings can also be achieved when it comes to affordability sourcing with the ability for an adviser to access over 31 lenders in a single search and receive responses in less than a minute using Affordability Hub.

Affordability Hub is available through Criteria Hub and provides a quick and easy way to submit a customer’s property, income, debt, and expenditure with one simple form, directly into the affordability calculators of over 31 lenders. Results are returned complete with a screenshot from every lender for accuracy and transparency.
It’s easy to see how embracing technology in this way gives advisers greater coverage whilst requiring less of their time, no matter where in the process they start.

What the future holds

Mortgage Brain reinvests 40% of their overheads (equivalent to around 60 people) into product development to continually enhance their solutions and develop innovative new products that help advisers give their customers the best and most accurate advice possible.

2021 will see a continuation as it makes the journey from sourcing through to conveyancing an ever more seamless and time-efficient experience for mortgage advisers.

To find out more about how our solutions can streamline your mortgage processes, contact one of our experts at sales@mortgage-brain.co.uk or complete a short form on our website https://www.mortgage-brain.co.uk/enquiry

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