It appears that even with the hot property market lenders have not yet geared up their broker centres to deal with the sheer volume of loan applications coming through. With evidence that some deals are taking four weeks to complete, there is a real danger that consumers will abandon brokers
"Lenders need to realise that unacceptable delays reflect very badly on the ‘broker experience’ with customers, who often blame the adviser for poor service," Mortgage Supply Co chief executive Jenny Campbell says.
"It’s not like this is a new problem, brokers have been experiencing long delays for quite some time now, and the lenders are simply not addressing the issue seriously enough. We hear of lending teams working through weekends and doing horrendous overtime hours. This is not fair on these employees, and it’s not fair on the brokers that they are servicing."
So far, the only lender who is actively addressing this issue is Westpac, who are ramping up their technology to make efficiences in this area. Citing the success of their App, they are able to turn deals around far more quickly than other lenders.
It certainly seems that lenders have not yet returned to the levels of staffing they had prior to the GFC, and given the indications that the property market is not going to slow down in the short term, perhaps they should be recruiting – fast.
In an email sent to brokers (and passed onto us by an adviser) Westpac Director of Third Party Banking Kylie Kneale says the bank is doing everything it can to reduce delays.
"We ask you to bear with us as investment in new technology brings major change to our systems and processes."
"We have all staff on deck working overtime and using our broader network for support to get through our queues. Applications and reworks are currently taking 5-7 working days to process, however, we are prioritising applications with an imminent settlement date or those submitted digitally."
She says advisers using Westpac's Lending App are having deals turned around in 8 business hours.
What's your experience been with turnaround times? Email us your story.
