UK lenders have reduced mortgage processing costs over the past year and could potentially save around £44 million, suggests Marlborough Stirling's 2004 mortgage benchmarking study.
The second annual study, developed with the Council of Mortgage Lenders, found costs for processing mortgage applications across 17 lenders had fallen from £116 in 2003 to £89.67 in 2004. If all UK lenders streamlined their operations in a similar way the reduction could have been as much as £44 million across the entire mortgage sector.
The study also reveals that lenders have improved many other areas of their operations as systems and business processes have been overhauled in the run up to FSA regulation of the mortgage market.
Phil Heaton-Jones, director product development, mortgages at Marlborough Stirling, says the forthcoming FSA regulation has acted as a catalyst for lenders to reduce costs, increase efficiency and provide a high quality service.