Knowledge Bank has revealed that, in the month since its launch, brokers have conducted 11,966 criteria searches.

The top three residential searches in September were maximum age at the end of term; interest only and self-employed with one year’s accounts.

Meanwhile the top three buy-to-let searches were minimum income; lending to limited companies and first time landlord.

The number of individual pieces of criteria on the system has also increased by 7,380 from the start of September as more lenders put their own criteria onto Knowledge Bank. This takes the total number of criteria up to 22,412 as of this morning.

There are over 480 different categories in six different mortgage types, including buy-to-let, second charges and equity release, as well as residential mortgages.

Nicola Firth, CEO of Knowledge Bank and its parent company Compass Systems, said: “It is incredible to see how popular Knowledge Bank already is with both brokers and lenders. 11,966 searches in a month when we are only just getting started is phenomenal and it is particularly good news that this is leading to more business enquiries for the lenders. It is a real reward for all the lenders that have taken the time to upload all their criteria so that it is all in one easily accessible place for the brokers.

“The fact that brokers are placing cases they never thought were possible is great for the broker but particularly good for their clients. It means that brokers can now offer an even better service while clients can now get a solution to their mortgage needs which they may not have been able to before. This can be crucial especially if someone is self employed or an older borrower as the top searches reveal. It also shows that business is out there and brokers are discovering new cases to be placed which can only be of benefit to all of the lenders displaying their criteria on Knowledge Bank.”