New automated emails for valuation status in our broker portal

We undertook some research recently and our analysis showed that a fifth of our case update calls were about the valuation status. Understandably, given the key role the valuation plays, advisers want to know when it has been instructed, when it has been booked, and of course when it has been returned.

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So, we believe it is far better for our underwriting portal to trigger email notifications automatically when one of those three valuation ‘events’ happen. Those notifications to the adviser should hopefully ensure advisers don’t have to chase us.

With the addition of these automated emails, mortgage intermediaries can access their case status from a range of channels: via the online portal, by phone, in person of course if you have met up with one of our Regional Account Managers, and now via pushed email messaging.

Of course, these tools are only as powerful as you make them, so we are relying on our intermediary partners to take advantage of this rich data stream. Might you need to forward these emails to an administrator to update your own systems and save someone else a call?  Are Foundation emails set as a ‘safe’ sender to appear in your inbox?

Of course, we fully expect that advisers will still want to call us, particularly those who need help on existing applications. Again, we work hard to keep the ‘on hold’ time of these calls down to an absolute minimum and have a dedicated phone team specifically to handle inbound calls of this nature, made up of Telephone Case Managers rained to know exactly at what stage a case sits, to know what is required to progress it, and to impart that information to advisers.

In addition to this team, we have created a second outbound telephone team specifically to call out to intermediaries and obtain the last piece of information or documentation to progress a case to offer.

As a result of this action and increasing our headcount for these teams, our inbound call answer time is down to just 50 seconds, and of course advisers also have access to our BDMs, who are another highly important part of our adviser communication strategy.

Overall, our aim is to take away the need for unnecessary calls and to prioritise those inbound calls where advisers require updates and clarity on what is happening with their case and what they need to do to progress it.

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Mark Whitear is the Director of Commercial Development at Foundation Home Loans.

*This article was originally published on Best Advice

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