Habito has unveiled a new intermediary portal that allows selected brokers quick access to Habito’s buy-to-let product range and lending criteria.

It also provides the ability to generate an ‘instant decision’ and submit a full mortgage application directly.

The portal has been designed and built following customer and broker research conducted via Habito’s own internal distribution network alongside feedback and input from Connect for Intermediaries.

Habito’s says its ‘instant decision’ allows a broker to check a client’s information against its full credit and affordability policy and run an automated valuation, soft credit check and KYC simultaneously. It claims its instant decision surpasses the industry’s Decision in Principle (DIP) which only checks a subset of criteria and nothing on the property.

The firm said customers can expect their mortgage offer within 10 days compared to an industry average of 21.

The portal also provides advisers with automated feedback so that when a customer doesn’t fit into Habito’s policy, this is flagged early and a suitable alternative can be found.

For portfolio landlords, Habito has designed a fully downloadable ‘Portfolio Checker’ which is designed to help to cut through the time spent on paperwork.

Post-submission, onboarded brokers can now use Habito’s intermediary portal to manage multiple applications in one place using their own personal dashboard, accessed by a unique token registered to each adviser. This is aided by a dynamic list of required customer documents which reduces back-and-forth post-submission.

Martijn van der Heijden, chief strategy officer at Habito, said: “Being a tech-led mortgage broker and lender, automation and innovative improvements are in our DNA. We’re on a mission to make mortgages easier for all and our origination platform and portal are testament to this.

“For us, the key to making meaningful improvements is extensive customer research and user testing. With this in mind, we made the decision to extend our offer beyond our own brokerage and speak to a network of like-minded brokers to see how automation and innovation could help them better serve their clients.

“Connect for Intermediaries were the first to come on board in January 2020 and have been an invaluable partner, helping us design and shape an intermediary portal we feel is a game-changer for the industry. Using Connect’s extensive broker network and deep insights, we’ve been able to take real-life pain points and solve them with seamless connectivity and easy-to-use functionality.”

Liz Syms, CEO of Connect for Intermediaries added: “Right now is an excellent time for Habito to be launching such an innovative solution. The ability to streamline the application process and use automatic valuations is very much welcome in the current market. The team at Connect were pleased to be part of helping Habito to develop the system and look forward to assisting with the launch of Habito’s offering to our advisers and clients.“