For brokers, the underwriting department is where a mortgage application’s fate is decided, with the underwriter acting as the gatekeeper to approval.
With a high volume of borrowers coming off historically low fixed-rate mortgages over the past year, lenders’ underwriting teams have been busy.
For brokers, the difference between a smooth process and a frustrating one often comes down to getting the basics right. A flexible, common-sense approach to underwriting, with clear communication and access to underwriters, is what brokers crave — not slow response times, repeated requests for information and inflexible decision making.
The lenders that have achieved Top Rated or Rated status for underwriting and case processing have proved they can handle the pressure, delivering the dependable service and systems that brokers need.
Interestingly, mainstream lenders have received their lowest scores for underwriting and case processing, which may be due to broker frustrations with slower systems or reflect the affordability challenges faced by some borrowers.
Almost all mainstream lenders Top Rated for Service overall have received the same accolade for their underwriting and case processing. In the Rated tier, three lenders are commended despite not achieving Rated status overall — Family Building Society, Nottingham Building Society and Precise Mortgages.
Specialist lenders’ scores for underwriting and case processing are also lower compared to some other service areas, which may reflect the complexity of the cases and the challenges of meeting broker expectations.
On a positive note, Metro Bank stands out as the only lender outside the overall Top Rated and Rated groups to achieve Rated status in this category.
Underwriting and case processing also presented challenges for some buy-to-let lenders last year.
Notably, two building societies — Newcastle and Principality — have achieved Rated for Service status in this category, perhaps suggesting that brokers appreciate the hands-on approach some building societies can take with complex cases.
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
