The relationship between brokers and lenders is arguably the strongest it has ever been. Yet certain events over the past 12 months have put that relationship to the test.
One such event is the Financial Conduct Authority’s Mortgage Rule Review. While designed to simplify the mortgage rules and boost homeownership, some of the regulator’s new guidance also makes it easier for borrowers to take the advice-free, execution-only route, bypassing brokers altogether.
Adding to this pressure, the ongoing debate over product transfers and broker proc fees has rumbled on, further straining the lender-broker bond.
That’s why the Mortgage Finance Gazette Rated for Service 2026 rankings for strategic focus carry particular weight among brokers — celebrating the lenders that clearly value and nurture the broker partnership.
Promisingly, in two of the three sectors — mainstream and specialist — lenders have earned their highest scores for strategic focus, highlighting the ongoing strength of the broker-lender partnership. Buy-to-let (BTL) lenders aren’t far behind, also achieving strong scores.
Among mainstream lenders, all of those Top Rated for their strategic focus are also Top Rated for Service overall. For Rated mainstream lenders, however, results are more varied. Two lenders — Clydesdale Bank and Precise Mortgages — have earned Rated status for their strong strategic focus, but both miss out on an overall accolade, albeit with Precise coming close.
It is a similar scenario among specialist lenders, with Bluestone Mortgages and Vida Homeloans both Rated for their strategic focus but not securing overall recognition.
The picture for BTL lenders follows suit, with three lenders — Kensington Mortgages, Kent Reliance and Precise Mortgages — all achieving Rated for Service status for strategic focus but falling short of an overall Rated ranking.
This suggests that a standout overall proposition doesn’t always go hand in hand with a standout strategic focus — and vice versa.
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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Read more on Mortgage Finance Gazette’s Rated for Service 2026
