Couple speaking to a mortgage broker
Oct 2022 | Credit Decisions

The mortgage market has weathered two stormy pandemic years remarkably well

Although the storm may have passed, we now face the squeeze, with cost-of-living pressures resulting in record falls in real household disposable income continuing into 2023.

With the increase in the Bank of England base rate and many fixed rate mortgages coming to an end, many consumers will be looking to switch to a new mortgage deal or provider, but could face much higher repayments, along with energy price rises and inflation.

Add to this, falling employment and unemployment rates, rising economic inactivity and 1 in 5 workers stating that they’re likely to change jobs in the next year, the need to obtain accurate employment and income information is more pressing than ever.

Consumers are having to contend with falls in real household incomes – down 2.8% p.a, the impact of energy price rises and inflation and increases in the cost of borrowing. Add to this, falling employment and unemployment rates, rising economic inactivity and 1 in 5 workers stating that they’re likely to change jobs in the next year, the need to obtain accurate employment and income information is more pressing than ever.

In the digitisation of financial services, mortgages have been left behind, leaving legacy application processes with too much friction, too many pain points and a frustrating customer experience. This at a time when over 88% of credit active consumers want to apply online. The current mortgage application process can take more than 18 weeks in the UK with the process broken for nearly all stakeholders in the chain.

Brokers and advisors cite significant pain points and inefficiencies and only 15% of consumers say their mortgage application exceeded expectations.

A key area we are focusing on to facilitate fairer, faster access to credit is enabling consumers to digitally share payroll data with brokers and lenders to support more accurate applications. Employer, employment start date, and earnings are crucial pieces of information that mortgage lenders and other credit providers often require to verify employment and inform affordability assessments.

Download the full report, How to stay ahead in the mortgage market by saying goodbye to payslips, which shares our vision on the evolution of mortgage lending and how we can support you in streamlining, simplifying and speeding up the lending experience for you and your consumers.

Find out how Work Report, a new service from Experian, can help digitise the mortgage application process; something consumers are desperate for. Work Report provides verified employment and income data in seconds and is a significant step towards the first wholly digital mortgage journey in the UK.

Want to know more?

Download the full research report exploring the value of digital income and employment data.

Get in touch to see how we can help streamline your employment verifications and grow your business with digital access to data from source.

Previous chapter: Using employment data to improve your understanding of credit risk