Over the past year the mortgage market has experienced its usual share of unexpected twists.
Interest rates have come down, and lenders have eased their affordability stress tests following guidance from the Financial Conduct Authority.
Nevertheless, for some brokers, lenders and borrowers, economic pressures and the rising cost of living have meant that the market continues to feel challenging. Yet the results for Mortgage Finance Gazette’s Rated for Service 2026 show that there is much to celebrate. Many of the lenders that excelled last year remain at the forefront of the Top Rated and Rated for Service categories, alongside some new faces.
As is often said — and as the results demonstrate — good service goes beyond simply providing competitive rates. The section of the survey containing brokers’ comments shows that effective communication is one of the traits that brokers value most from lenders.
Respondents’ positive comments about lenders’ overall service — such as, “Incredible, fast and easy-to-navigate system” and, “The epitome of common-sense lending” — contrast sharply with broker frustrations, such as, “You can’t even speak to them on the phone” and, “Just appalling all around — slow and no understanding of real life.”
The brokers’ comments show just how wide the gap in service standards can be between lenders.
This year’s scores differ from last year’s in various ways. In the mainstream market, strategic focus has improved, as has sales support and communication, along with technology. However, underwriting and case processing, alongside product offering, has declined slightly.
There’s also more variation in scores for lenders in the mainstream domain. Previously, outside the 19 overall Top Rated or Rated for Service lenders, only six additional lenders were recognised in individual service categories, earning eight accolades between them. This year, eight additional lenders have been commended, achieving a total of 13 accolades.
In the specialist market, scores have improved from the previous Rated for Service rankings across all service areas except technology. This is surprising because lenders could be expected to have invested in their tech systems over the past 12 months. It is difficult to determine whether the lower technology score reflects a lack of investment in outdated platforms or the introduction of new systems that do not fully meet brokers’ needs.
In the buy-to-let (BTL) sector, scores across all five service areas are down compared to Rated for Service 2025. This may be explained by the rebound in BTL business last year, with higher volumes placing pressure on lenders’ ability to maintain service standards.
In addition, brokers may have scrutinised products and service more closely than in previous years, resulting in tougher scores. BTL has also experienced more fluctuations in lender accolades outside the 18 Top Rated and Rated for Service recipients. An additional five lenders have received rankings this year, totalling 10 individual service accolades. Last year only four additional lenders were recognised, also resulting in 10 accolades.
Across all sectors, this year’s Rated for Service rankings show that more lenders are emerging as challengers to the established top names, whether they are building societies or smaller, niche lenders.
This could suggest that, in an increasingly competitive market, lenders are targeting specific service areas where they can excel; whether by launching one-of-a-kind products, adopting a more manual, personalised approach to underwriting complex cases, or investing in newer, cutting-edge systems to rival some lenders’ older legacy platforms.
Mortgage Finance Gazette’s Rated for Service 2026 enables lenders to compare themselves with their peers once again, and to find out how they are viewed through brokers’ eyes. There’s much to celebrate and plenty for lenders to discover in this year’s findings.
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:
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