A lender’s products can shape a broker’s first impression and even determine whether their client gets on the property ladder or misses out.
Whether launching competitive rates in an uncertain market or stretching criteria for challenging cases, a lender’s products are what set it apart from the crowd. Over the past 12 months, lenders have shown creativity by expanding their product ranges to assist not only first-time buyers (FTBs) but borrowers with more complex needs, including older applicants and those with a less-than-perfect credit score.
Earning Top Rated or Rated recognition for their products acknowledges those lenders that are willing to go the extra mile to meet the needs of brokers and their clients. In the mainstream market, lenders that are Top Rated overall have consistently matched this standard with their products. The trend is almost mirrored in the Rated tier, where only two lenders have not received Rated status for their products also. Consequently, both Nottingham Building Society and Precise Mortgages have earned Rated for Service recognition for their strong mainstream products.
Across all three sectors, mainstream lenders have scored the highest for products by a significant margin, perhaps indicative of some of the innovations in the FTB market over the past 12 months.
The specialist lender score for products is the lowest of all three sectors among the upper quartile, but the second-highest score within the specialist categories. Outside the overall Top Rated and Rated for Service lenders, Saffron Building Society’s products resonated with brokers and achieved Rated status.
In the buy-to-let (BTL) arena, two lenders — one Top Rated overall and one Rated for Service — have missed out on equivalent recognition for their products.
However, Kensington Mortgages’ and Precise Mortgages’ BTL products hit the right note with brokers, earning them each a Rated for Service accolade.
All Rated for Service data is accessed via the dashboard. To access the rankings data for each assessment area, simply select the Ranking button on the lender category of your choice. You can then re-arrange the data based upon the ranking for each assessment area to determine the best/worst-performing lender.
Factor analysis is also available for each lender category to enable benchmarking across a panel of lenders versus the average score for each assessment area. This can be filtered by broker type and case load, providing tailored benchmarks for individual brokers (max. of five lenders).
Please see the full dashboard below:
Read more on Mortgage Finance Gazette’s Rated for Service 2026
