The Intermediary – May 2025 - Flipbook - Page 41
RESIDENTIAL
Opinion
Mutual openness
and empathy can
help us all thrive
I
t’s good to talk. As the world
gets more complex, that old
chestnut becomes ever truer.
Every broker knows that the
best outcomes are achieved
when a borrower is as open
and detailed as possible about their
mortgage needs from the start, and a
lender is clear and candid about what
they can offer. If it’s a no, it needs to
be a quick no. When it’s a yes, the
criteria need to be simply laid out and
understood by all parties.
The more layers there are to a case,
the more important the details are.
As lenders, we need to know all the
borrower’s ‘measurements’ so we
can tailor a mortgage that best fits
their needs.
Mutual building societies have
spent hundreds of years listening to
their local communities and working
with borrowers and savers to meet
their needs. So, we have plenty of
experience in honest communication
and working with others for the
collective good.
More recently, some of us have
used these skills to build mutually
rewarding alliances with the broker
community, and extend our offerings
to meet more specialist needs that call
for extra aention and understanding.
At Market Harborough, for
example, we have been partnering
with brokers to provide bridging
solutions and cater for borrowers
with multiple complexities for almost
10 years.
A decade is a small fraction of our
155-year history, but it has been a
period of rapid change, which we
believe signposts the broader direction
of travel. Our culture is caring and
empathic, and we have long aimed
to help each member with their
individual requirements in a highly
personalised way.
IAIN KIRKPATRICK
is CEO at Market Harborough
Building Society
As a building society
and local employer, we
have a unique opportunity
to help young people
understand finances and
make better decisions”
For centuries, mutuals have adopted
this mindset with members of their
local communities with relatively
straightforward borrowing needs, but
it is an approach which lends itself
well to complicated and unusual cases,
which are becoming more common
in an ever more complex world. That
empathic approach also helps build
healthy lender-broker relationships,
especially when it comes to those
specialist or complex cases which need
particularly open and honest two-way
communication.
This is why our mortgage teams,
including underwriters, proactively
pick up the phone to brokers and
encourage them to call us whenever
needed, discuss cases in fine detail and
provide a service they know they can
trust. The aim is to create virtuous
relationship circles which help
borrowers take the next step of their
property journey, however complex,
and help broker businesses to prosper
and allow mutual building society
communities to thrive.
Support structures
For anyone to thrive, they need a
supportive framework. For mortgage
borrowers and brokers, that means
regular communication so they know
where a case is progressing, as well as
the knowledge that lenders will treat
them fairly. For brokers, that extends
to promises like the commitment
to a minimum 24-hour product
withdrawal period, which was led by
the mutual building societies.
In fact, many building societies
are commied to helping their
communities – made up of colleagues,
broker partners, members and local
communities – to thrive, in numerous
ways. For example, to mark 250
years of mutuality, this year we have
earmarked £250,000 to give back to
our local community.
A significant portion of this
donation will be directed towards our
groundbreaking new programme,
‘Thrive! Forward’, which aims to
support young people in the areas of
mental health, financial capability
and resilience, careers planning, and
employability skills.
As a building society and local
employer, we have a unique
opportunity to help young people
understand finances and make beer
decisions. By sharing our knowledge
and skills, we can empower the next
generation with the financial literacy
needed to navigate life’s challenges.
Empathy and openness may not be
the predominant qualities associated
with mortgage lending. However,
all lenders are people businesses,
and the mortgage industry is rightly
renowned for prizing the importance
of relationships. Those relationships
involve brokers, borrowers, lenders
and – at least for building societies –
local communities.
Relationships flourish on honest
communication, and we can all thrive
when relationships flourish. ●
May 2025 | The Intermediary
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