The Hinckley & Rugby Building Society has gone live with a digital system developed in Denmark that drives faster and more precise mortgage applications.

The system, developed by Festina Finance, helps the mutual’s mortgage team process the customer interview, generate a Decision in Principle, instantly compare products and terms plus predict timescales.

Ongoing development will see a personalised self-service online platform introduced later in 2019 for customers to use themselves.

Dean Waddingham (pictured), chief customer officer at the Hinckley & Rugby, said: “The first step alone is a game changing innovation which will quicken each application’s journey from enquiry to completion.

“It supports our staff adviser and the customer, from streamlining a smarter interview and Fact Find to improving the efficiency of the subsequent processing to deliver a quicker outcome.

“It’s the result of our commitment to focusing on what our customers need plus a can-do collaboration with Festina Finance. Together we have pioneered a new blend of automation and intelligent combination of the customer’s circumstances with the Society’s products.”

The Hinckley & Rugby system includes an electronic Decision in Principle and Fact Find for residential house purchase and remortgage applications which is tailored to the Society’s lending criteria and affordability calculations.

The Fact Find is structured for a conversation which flows with varying paths and prompts dependent on the customer’s responses. Automated documents include a Decision in Principle for the customer, a suitability letter and ESIS (European Standardised Information Sheet).

Waddingham added: “This is creating significant efficiencies to benefit the customer and the Society, greatly reducing time spent manually generating documents. The structure to the interview enables us to better predict timescales, a key ingredient in the customer’s satisfaction with their experience.”

The project’s next stage will enable customers to generate their own Decision in Principle for residential and buy-to-let mortgages and use calculator tools. An online application process will have inbuilt affordability calculations and document uploading.

The self-service platform will also enable non-interactive, execution-only lending, the building society said.

Mikael Braagaard, CEO and head of sales and marketing at Festina Finance, said: “As a fintech committed to creating innovative solutions within the field of digital financial advice, we are delighted to have been challenged by Hinckley & Rugby.

“Our solution enables societies to provide better advice and consumers to receive information in an easily understood form, this Dean and his colleagues understood from the very beginning.”