Decision First automates Santander’s redemption service to provide real-time response to law firms
Lender Exchange operator, Decision First, has launched its new redemption service for Santander, marking a radical improvement in the process of requesting and receiving redemption figures.
Following a successful soft launch with a handful of volume conveyancing firms, it has now opened up access to all firms registered on Lender Exchange. Fee Earners and case workers can now gain direct access via their own Lender Exchange Administrator.
The free-to-use service is another service enhancement creating yet more value to law firms for their annual Lender Exchange fee whilst providing more security and a reduced fraud risk by keeping the processing within Lender Exchange. This latest development revolutionises the process for lenders and law firms alike and paves the way for further digitisation to aid the conveyancing process.
Justin Parkinson, Managing Director of Decision First explains the rationale; “Having worked with Santander since before the launch of Lender Exchange, we’ve been keen to digitise processes to make the interaction between lenders and law firms as effective as possible and we’re poised to take the efficiencies even further.
“If we look back five years ago, it took days to obtain a redemption figure from many lenders – and that’s still the case today for a few lenders – but in recent years this has come down to hours. The work we’ve done with Santander takes it down to seconds in most cases.
“Our aim is simple – to improve the way lenders and law firms work through greater collaboration, with risk reduction at the heart of everything we do. In doing so, we expect to save law firms thousands of pounds each year in improved efficiencies, not to mention the savings to lenders.”
Miguel Sard, Managing Director of Mortgages at Santander explains; “Santander and Decision First have been able to automate the redemption service to provide a real-time response to law firms. This is a significant milestone to introduce greater efficiencies and improvements for our customers whilst continuing to advance Santander’s digital journey.”
The service has been built with input from law firms as Rob Gurney of Premier Property Lawyers attests, “The new Redemption Statement Request service is a welcome step in the right direction in terms of reducing the unnecessary delays and work associated with requesting Redemption Statements from Lenders. It’s a simple to use system that delivers an immediate response, which can be updated quickly if needed. There is a real appetite from those staff who have been testing it to see the service extended to include other Lenders.”
Karen James from Ramsdens Solicitor, who originally floated the concept, was delighted with the launch, “We’re absolutely delighted that Decision First and Santander have pioneered a new, secure and efficient way of dealing with redemption requests. When Lender Exchange first came into being back in 2014 I could see immediately the benefits to law firms of not having to duplicate requests for information from multiple lenders and hoped that the panel management system could be developed into a more wide ranging means of secure communication between lenders and solicitors.
“The new redemption request service being offered by Santander means figures are available in literally seconds. No more delayed completions waiting for redemption statements to arrive in the post, or abortive transactions weeks after instruction when we discover clients are in negative equity or have early redemption penalties to pay. It’s a win-win situation for everyone and I sincerely hope other lenders will be quick to follow suit.’
More information can be found at www.decisionfirst.co.uk
This article was published by Decision First as part of their advertising agreement with Today’s Conveyancer.
The views expressed in this article are those of the submitter and not those of Today’s Conveyancer.
