The formula seems to be working well. From our perspective, it means we can offer unlimited products for a designated period while maintaining the service levels brokers have come to expect from us. For advisers, we know a more sustained trading period would be preferred. But, by notifying early on the Friday before a Monday launch, there is hopefully time to liaise with clients, collate all the relevant information and submit applications before the final deadline.

Getting to this point has not been easy. Throughout the pandemic, we have been committed to lending at higher LTVs and, within a week of physical valuations recommencing, we re-entered the market with 90 per cent LTV products. However, as one of the few lenders offering support at this tier, our volumes were staggering and, as service levels were negatively impacted, we were forced to withdraw.

Industry feedback

We recently hosted three industry roundtable events, with guests from mortgage clubs, networks and large firms. The purpose was to gather feedback on the way we were operating and understand what the key challenges for intermediaries were, now and in the future. We wanted honest opinions to help us understand if what we were offering was effective and to help shape our future propositions.

One of the main debates was about where brokers would be prepared to compromise for the availability of higher-LTV products. How could we balance service, criteria and pricing with product availability?

When asked about service, the guests were unanimous and agreed that, as long as lenders were transparent about expected timeframes, brokers and their clients could then make a choice. One participant commented: “When lenders are clear on service-level agreements, that’s fine; the broker and customer know. A broker can make a decision and manage their customer’s expectation.”

We clearly show our SLAs on our website, and update them daily so that brokers can check them before chasing cases.

The views around restricting of criteria differed. Some felt making products available to certain customers could help manage volumes and therefore increase the availability of products; others were concerned that by putting in too many restrictions you risked reducing access to lending completely. One commented: “If you restrict to first-time buyers, but then start excluding certain types of property that they would buy, or excluding gifted deposits when we know the Bank of Mum and Dad is key, there’s a dichotomy.”

There was a clear steer from one member of the roundtable: “Keep it simple. The more criteria tweaks you put in, the harder it is for brokers to understand. There’s confusion, more queries follow and everything else seizes up.”

The future

The past few months have seen a steady stream of 90 per cent products come and go, with the majority of lenders sharing the same capacity issues as us. But the market needs these products and, with the economic impacts of the pandemic set to continue into next year and beyond, there needs to be a more sustainable approach to providing support to those with smaller deposits.

At Accord, we’re reassured that our current approach is fulfilling a need and, as long as our service levels allow, we will repeat the limited releases as often as possible. We are committed to maintaining open and honest communications, giving as much notice as possible, retaining a simple approach to criteria and offering flexibility with our underwriting.

There will always be difficult decisions and we appreciate there are no perfect solutions. But by continuing to listen to the market we can ensure that our products are supporting brokers and their clients through these challenging times.

Jeremy Duncombe is director of intermediary distribution at Accord Mortgages