Nationwide is to take a tougher stance over paper applications.

From 16 May, the lender will return paper applications to brokers who fail to complete them with the required information.

The lender says it has identified that 40% of paper applications have critical information missing, which results in “significant resources” having to be allocated to chase the missing data.

Ian Andrew, managing director of group intermediary sales at Nationwide, said: “We receive a high number of paper application forms, but the quality of completion has deteriorated. Our processing teams are spending too much time chasing brokers for missing information, which impacts on our ability to process those cases which are fully completed.

“This is unfair on the many brokers who take the time to fully complete our forms. At a time when our mortgage volumes are extremely high, this is beginning to impact our overall service levels.”

Brokers submitting cases with critical data missing will be called by Nationwide to give them the opportunity to provide the information required to process their case. If the broker cannot provide the missing information, then the application will be returned.

Andrew added: “We are giving two weeks’ notice of our intention. I would urge brokers to use this time to check our website or speak to their local BDM if they have any queries about what an incomplete form looks like.”