Excellent customer service is the lifeblood of the mortgage and client relationship, but from the broker’s point of view, it only makes up half of the equation.

Just as important is the customer service between a lender and a broker – after all, any issues that arise in this area can quickly filter downwards, which risks leaving clients disappointed, or even angry.

Since 2018, Smart Money People has tracked customer service from lender to broker twice a year as part of our Mortgage Lender Benchmark study. We will soon be publishing our H2 2023 edition, making this an ideal time to see how lenders have performed recently as 2023 comes to an end.

Setting the benchmark
The first thing to note is that the impact of excellent customer service can be seen on a quantitative basis – our data shows it’s responsible for 13% of positive feedback on a lender’s Net Promoter Score. Brokers who give a good mark for customer service are also more likely to be positive about a lender’s communication, accuracy, and the availability of business development managers.

Taking a broad view, in H1 2023, brokers reported increased satisfaction levels across all types of lenders after this metric suffered during the pandemic. Specifically, it rose by 4% to 83.4% compared to the end of 2022.

Digging deeper into the data, we can see how opinions differ based on different types of lenderbeing questioned. Building societies continue to score the highest in this domain, while specialist lenders, which scored the lowest at the end of 2022, saw reported levels of satisfaction increase by 7% to 82%, making them the biggest improvers in the Benchmark study. Banks and lifetime lenders lag these, but still saw no negative change overall.

Will this momentum carry?
One of the biggest points of interest to us in compiling our latest data is seeing if the trend of improved satisfaction has continued into the second half of 2023.

While 2023 has been a hectic year, evident in the many changes in product rates and criteria requirements lenders have had to make, the market has recently become less choppy.

On one hand, this relative calm may have allowed lenders to catch their breath and apply renewed focus to their communications and service levels. On the other, mortgage rates now being at their lowest since Q2 2023 could well have sparked greater interest from potential buyers and remortgagors who have cash in hand and who have been waiting to pounce. Do lenders have the capacity to deal with this while continuing to improve their service levels?

We’re especially keen to see how banks and lifetime lenders have fared – another half year of relatively little improvement will weigh heavily on them coming into the new year.

This question among many will be answered soon. We can’t wait to share our findings with you.

Jess Rushton is head of business development at Smart Money People