L&C MORTGAGES’ ONLINE MORTGAGE FINDER RECEIVES OVER £2.6 BILLION IN MORTGAGE APPLICATIONS

L&C, the leading fee free mortgage broker, has seen over £2.6bn worth of mortgage applications through its online tool since its launch 12 months ago.

The Mortgage Finder service, available across all devices, enables customers to input their personal financial information and mortgage requirements, to find a borrowing amount and range of mortgage deals to suit them.

The mortgage deals shown take into account eligibility criteria from over 80 lenders, combined with customers’ unique information to return tailored results. The results are updated in real-time as customers input their information and become more refined as more information is supplied.

Unlike many other digital mortgage options, the Mortgage Finder caters for buy to let borrowers as well as those looking for residential mortgages and remortgages. Recent L&C data found that most customers using the online tool were looking at residential property (86%), with one in seven looking for buy-to-let (14%), half (50%) were doing so to remortgage, and a third (33%) looking to buy their first home.

L&C’s analysis reveals that Mortgage Finder is most popular with those aged 31-40 years old (43%), whilst a quarter (24%) of users were between the ages of 41-50 years old, suggesting that all customer ages and types, from young first time buyers to more mature remortgage customers are taking their search for a mortgage online.

David Hollingworth from L&C commented: “Customers’ needs continually evolve and it’s clear that our pioneering Mortgage Finder is fulfilling those needs. We designed the online journey to allow customers to easily see how much they could borrow, and the sort of deals they may be eligible for – as we know that consumers are very interested in access to this information.

“Interestingly a wide range of age groups are also embracing this technology and using the tool, which demonstrates the broad appeal of the Finder, and the ease with which it can be used.

“L&C’s Mortgage Finder portal goes further than just producing tailored results, by providing insights into why a customer is perhaps not eligible for some lenders’ deals – and enables them to choose to speak to an expert adviser at any stage. While technology is a huge enabler, we recognise that it’s important to maintain the human element. Although the enquiry can be completed in full online, our experienced advisers are always on hand to assist – drawing on our heritage and experience as a leading broker and combining it with technology.”

The Mortgage Finder was developed by L&C’s in-house development team and the platform utilises L&C’s proprietary real-time mortgage product and criteria data, in combination with a powerful dynamic question engine which personalises each customer journey the more information that is supplied. Combined with a bespoke cross-market eligibility engine, this provides a tailored response unique to each individual customer and their specific circumstances.

Two-factor authentication is utilised allowing borrowers to save their enquiry at any stage and return to complete it at a later time that suits them, even using a different device if they prefer. All data captured through the enquiry stage is then also available for customers in a bespoke lender application form, avoiding the customer having to re-enter any information. This digitised process has been developed based on over 2 million customer interactions to provide an online alternative to L&C’s award-winning telephone advice service, and provides customers with the ability to start their mortgage journey 24/7.