Spending more time where it counts the most
Coventry Building Society is the UK’s second largest building society with around 350,000 mortgage-members and 1.5 million saver-members. In 2022 the society provided £8.7 billion of mortgage lending to UK customers, grew their total mortgage balance by 3% to £48.0bn and achieved a Net Promoter Score of +75.
The team has been an Iress client since 2018 and recently activated MSO’s digital rate switch (DRS) functionality to give mortgage holders a simple way to switch to a new deal online. We spoke to Stephen Uranjek, Head of Regulated Mortgage Advice, Daniel Pheasant, Product Manager at Coventry Building Society, and Keith Williams, Intermediary Operations Manager, about the benefits MSO has delivered for mortgage holders who want to switch online, and those who prefer an advice-based route.
Stephen: “Before we had MSO, if you were an existing customer wanting to switch to a new deal, you had to call us and we would take you through the mortgage advice journey. Whilst this still remains an option, customer expectations have changed - many experienced mortgage borrowers want to research the market themselves, choose a product that meets their needs and be able to self-serve at a time convenient to them”.
“Now we have MSO and we’ve turned on the digital rate switch functionality, we can offer more options for our customers, and more flexibility. If a customer wants to switch, doesn’t feel the need for advice and wants to arrange the switch themselves, MSO’s digital rate switch functionality means they can do it all online - often in around 20 minutes or less.”
Making more time for borrowers, brokers and our people
Stephen: “The benefit hasn't just been for our borrowers. MSO has also helped us manage the peaks and troughs that come with client servicing and, in particular, how we manage call volumes with our contact centre”.
“For example, typically we have large volumes of mortgages maturing at certain points throughout the year. When this has happened previously, we’ve seen our call centre volumes really spike because all of our borrowers have had to go through a mortgage advice process or have some kind of conversation with us. As you can imagine, these peaks and troughs are very hard to manage and resource properly.
“Now with MSO, we're much more effective at managing this demand because we're catering for a population of customers who feel experienced enough to manage the mortgage switching process on their own, and can do it all online.
Daniel: ”The other benefit is that by better managing the peaks and troughs, it's become easier to find the time to upskill our people to respond to the external pressures that are having an impact on our customers. The pandemic and more recently the cost of living crisis has changed the type of conversations we’re having with some of our borrowers. What MSO has allowed us to do is spend more time with our mortgage advisers, upskilling them because some of the calls they’re having are more difficult and last longer”.
Keith: “On the intermediary side, brokers really love the system because they have more choice too. They now have the option to complete a client’s product transfer via our broker portal without any intervention from us. It also means less rework if a client changes their minds, or different product offers appear as the end of the mortgage term gets closer".
There’s an ease to going online to complete a transaction. Customers get an email letting them know the mortgage transfer is ready to go live - we don’t have to press a button or anything like that. It’s all done through APIs. Feedback has been really positive about how easy it is to use.
Keith: “There’s an efficiency there that brokers appreciate too. I’d say around 75% of the product transfers from brokers are now done via the digital rate switch functionality. Take up has been really positive”.
Stephen: “The digital rate switch functionality has been transformational. Two years ago none of our customers were able to switch mortgages online without any intervention from us. Today, we’ve got hundreds of mortgages going through like this - with very little intervention".
Stephen: “It’s strengthened our business because we’re giving customers more choice, having better conversations with our customers and brokers, and helping our people develop. Everyone wins”.
Making the business of mortgages easier with MSO
Recognised as the most advanced end-to-end software of its kind, our mortgage sales and originations software is helping lenders of all sizes transform the way they do business. Get in touch to find out how MSO can help you remove the constraints of legacy systems, innovate, grow and create a better mortgage experience for everyone.
