In this new series, Warren O’Connell, Head of Business Development for Sourcing at Iress, sits down with some of the UK mortgage market’s movers and shakers to explore their perspectives, predictions, and personal passions driving the industry forward.
This time, Warren chats with Jinesh Vohra, CEO at Sprive, the mortgage overpayment app on a mission to help homeowners become debt-free faster just by doing their everyday shopping.
So, Jinesh, are you ready for some Home Truths?
Tell us, what’s exciting you most about the UK mortgage market right now?
After years of very little innovation, it finally feels like we’re at a turning point. We’re seeing genuine momentum behind solutions that meaningfully improve the customer experience. Technology and AI are beginning to unlock opportunities around personalisation, efficiency, and customer engagement that simply didn’t exist before. Products like Sprive are scaling fast, lenders are becoming more open to digital partnerships, and there’s a real appetite for change. For the first time in a long time, it feels like the industry is moving from reactive problem-solving to proactively designing better journeys for homeowners.
Where do you see the biggest opportunities for brokers and intermediaries in the next 12 months?
The biggest opportunity lies in transforming how brokers engage with customers. Traditionally, the relationship has been very transactional and largely limited to once every two to five years. In a world of rapid innovation, rising competition, and AI-driven alternatives, that model simply isn’t enough. The brokers who win will be the ones who stay close to customers year-round, use data intelligently to add ongoing value, and embrace technology to streamline admin-heavy tasks. Tools that help with lead generation, pre-assessment, and sourcing will create huge competitive advantage. Customers increasingly expect digital-first experiences, so brokers who modernise their journey will be in a stronger position.
What’s one industry challenge that you think doesn’t get talked about enough?
We don’t talk enough about the long-term structural risks building up in the market. More people are borrowing more money over much longer terms, simply because house prices are rising far faster than salaries. Millions are now projected to carry a mortgage well into their 60s and 70s. Combine that with higher interest rates, the cost-of-living crisis, and uncertainty around the impact AI will have on the job market, and you have a real societal issue.
If we don’t help homeowners get ahead of their mortgage burden, we risk seeing rising defaults, greater financial insecurity later in life, and a generation without enough retirement resilience.
If you could wave a magic wand and change one thing about the mortgage process, what would it be?
I’d enable customers to digitally remortgage for straightforward cases in the same seamless way they can complete a product transfer today. No endless form-filling, no painful back-and-forth, and far less manual underwriting. Giving advisors modern, digital tools to execute vanilla remortgages quickly would dramatically improve the experience for everyone involved.
What drives you personally in this industry? What keeps you motivated?
I’m motivated by a very simple mission: helping homeowners take control of their mortgage and reduce the amount of interest they pay over their lifetime. Debt weighs heavily on people. It affects family life, finances, well-being, and long-term security. Knowing that Sprive can help people become mortgage-free faster, save eye-watering amounts of interest, and put themselves in a better position for the future is what fuels me every day. We’re not just helping people secure a mortgage; we’re helping them manage it responsibly for decades to come.
How do you see collaboration shaping the future of the mortgage space?
The future will be shaped by collaboration between lenders, brokers, technologists, and consumer-focused platforms. Customers will expect more control, more transparency, and more digital experiences, and no single part of the industry can deliver that alone. Partnerships between lenders and fintechs will be essential in modernising processes, improving affordability assessments, and giving customers a continuous journey from day one of their mortgage through to the day they pay it off.
Technology has made an enormous difference to the intermediary journey - where do you see the biggest gains still to be made?
The largest gains will come from reducing friction in the application process. Advisors still spend huge amounts of time collecting documents, sourcing data, validating information, and dealing with manual processes. Automating data flows such as income verification, property data, affordability checks, digital ID will free advisors to focus on the human part of the job. AI will also play a much greater role in helping customers shop smarter, complete tasks faster, and get clearer guidance earlier in their journey.
How does Iress fit into your strategy, and how do our tools and partnership help you deliver better for your customers?
Iress has been a key partner from day one. Sprive would likely not exist in its current form without its technology. Their sourcing tools help us power personalised, real-time mortgage insights for every customer. That means homeowners stay informed, understand their options, and have more control over their mortgage journey. The combination of Iress’ data and our mission-led platform allows us to support homeowners not just at the point of advice, but every single day as they work to reduce their mortgage faster.
What does success look like for you - and for the industry - over the next five years?
For Sprive, success means becoming the go-to platform for homeowners who want to pay off their mortgage faster and manage it more intelligently. It means helping millions of people save interest, reduce their debt, and avoid the long-term risks we’re seeing build up in the market. For the industry, success means better outcomes for customers: more transparency, more digital journeys, faster processes, and stronger long-term mortgage resilience.
Finally, if you could give one piece of advice to intermediaries navigating today’s market, what would it be?
Expect change that will likely happen over the next 5 years and embrace it. For years, tech players struggled to break in, but it’s naive to think the industry will stay the same forever. Lenders are making significant tech investments, AI is accelerating fast, and customers expect modern experiences. Stay close to your customers, diversify the value you bring, adopt new tools early, and keep an open mind to innovation. The firms that adapt will thrive; those that don’t will fall behind.
Thank you Jinesh, for sharing your Home Truths.
At Iress, we have conversations like this every day and through industry meet-ups like our Mortgage Forum. By talking openly in this way, we can develop the right tools and technology to keep brokers and lenders ahead of the opportunities that exist in the mortgage market.
Look out for more Home Truths from our other friends and partners soon.
Would you like to be interviewed by Warren? Email him at warren.o’connell@iress.com
