Applying for a mortgage can be one of the most stressful parts of buying a home. Long delays, paperwork, and uncertainty around property details all add pressure, with research showing that 37% of applicants want fewer delays to reduce stress and 36% seek less paperwork to improve the experience.
Much of this frustration stems from how property risk is assessed. Traditional property risk assessment relies heavily on manual surveying and customer-provided information, which can often be inaccurate or incomplete. This leads to extended processing times, higher operational costs, and the potential disappointment of initial mortgage offers being withdrawn when more accurate information emerges later in the process.
The challenge of knowing your property data
Lenders often start with limited property data, relying on applicants to fill in the gaps, making it difficult to reach confident lending decisions. Manual processes and customer-provided details can create uncertainty, that can then ripple through the entire application process.
Applicants may struggle to provide precise details about their property's characteristics, and while lenders must verify this information, this adds time to the process. Checks can cause delays, resulting in lost property purchases, particularly in such competitive markets.
Smarter underwriting with location data
Accurate location data helps lenders transform the mortgage journey, by reducing reliance on manual surveys and customer input.
For example, the onboarding process can be optimised by pre-populating application forms with accurate property information. Using a Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) as a key identifier, lenders can link properties to key datasets, providing comprehensive property information from the moment an application begins.
Ordnance Survey's National Geographic Database (NGD) provides a reliable foundation, describing the geography of Great Britain with more granularity, intelligence and interoperability. Its themed datasets give lenders a clear, consistent view of each property, delivering precise property identification, location, age and physical state of buildings.
- NGD Address Theme provides a detailed view of UK addresses and their lifecycle, including prebuild and historic addresses, giving a complete and definitive view of addresses for Financial Services.
- NGD Buildings Theme enables a property address to be related to its features such as building height, floor plan, and more, allowing mortgage lending decisions to be made more easily. Through this, lenders can ensure specific property characteristics are accurately matched to the correct properties, and in some cases reduce extensive manual surveys.
- NGD Land Use Theme can offer comprehensive land classification data that can help assess environmental and planning factors that could impact property value or mortgage risk.
Improving customer experience
Comprehensive property data allows lenders to automate much of their underwriting decision-making process, using reliable property and risk data to perform assessments more accurately and efficiently.
With this data, lenders can pre-populate application forms with verified details, speeding up the process and reducing the need for manual checks. Customers benefit from reduced form-filling, and processing times are improved.
Access to authoritative property data reduces the risk of surprises emerging during the application process, leading to fewer mortgage offer withdrawals and a more predictable experience for customers. Lending decisions become more stable and consistent.
And because OS data is constantly updated, lenders can rely on it not just at the point of application, but throughout the life of the mortgage. Confidence in the data matters, and lenders can be assured that they’re making decisions using the most up to date data.
The future of mortgage lending
As expectations for speed and simplicity grow, location data gives lenders the tools to meet them. With OS data — and the support of an OS Partner — lenders can improve the mortgage experience from start to finish. The result is significantly improved customer experience, and more confident lending decisions that benefit the property market.
As the industry evolves, successful lenders will be those that embrace accurate location data to competitive advantages. Find out more about how OS data can help you make decisions with confidence in financial services by clicking below:
