The Intermediary – August 2025 - Flipbook - Page 32
Q&A
The Cumberland
The Intermediary speaks with Lisa Hodgson, senior sales
manager, intermediary lending at The Cumberland, about the
intermediated market and the changing holiday let scene
How is the move into the
intermediary market progressing?
The Cumberland’s intermediary journey has
evolved significantly in recent years. While the
society has been active in the broker market
for some time, the formation of a dedicated
intermediary team for residential, holiday let
and buy-to-let (BTL) four years ago marked a
turning point.
Since then, visibility has grown and distribution
has widened, with tools like the residential broker
portal and affordability calculator helping to
modernise the experience. Brokers frequently
praise the platform for being intuitive and
timesaving, supporting faster case submission
without compromising on the society’s bespoke,
manual underwriting ethos.
Visibility has been key. Through more sourcing
system integrations and regular business
development meetings both online and face-toface, brokers are increasingly discovering a lender
that many hadn’t previously worked with, despite
our longstanding presence, particularly in holiday
lets. As one broker recently told us, “We always
knew you were in the background, but now we can
actually see you.”
It’s a transformation that hasn’t gone unnoticed.
Relationships with brokers are more collaborative
than ever, with the team regularly using informal
panels, direct feedback, and day-to-day case
conversations to inform everything from product
design to service improvements.
The team itself has grown from seven to 21
strong, and the commitment to service remains
constant. We offer case-by-case underwriting,
direct access to decision-makers and a culture that
listens to broker needs.
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The Intermediary | August 2025
What should brokers expect
from The Cumberland when they
onboard for the first time?
Above all, brokers should expect a highly personal
service. Every broker is allocated a named business
development manager (BDM), backed by admin
support and senior leadership who are equally
accessible. There’s no call centre, no chatbots, just
real people on the other end of the phone.
This accessibility underpins everything. It could
be a product query, policy clarification or simply
a quick sense check, but our brokers know they
can get through to someone who understands the
case. That responsiveness has helped forge lasting
relationships, especially when dealing with more
nuanced scenarios.
We continue to adapt our criteria based on
broker input. One recent example is the ability
to consider self-employed applicants with just
one year of trading history, subject to conditions.
In some cases, personal bank statements aren’t
required either.
These kinds of pragmatic updates give brokers
the confidence to place cases that might not fit
other lenders.
What has your holiday let
listing on Mortgage Brain
meant for brokers?
The addition of holiday let products on multiple
sourcing systems has been a real step-change.
Previously, brokers had to manually compare The
Cumberland’s rates against the wider market,
