Through a single search, brokers will be able to find the exact lender to suit their clients’ needs from both a product and criteria perspective, saving time and effort.

Knowledge Bank, the UK’s largest mortgage criteria search system, teamed up with, Iress, in April 2020 to provide a level of integration, but today’s move takes this to a whole new level. This collaboration between the two independent companies brings together the best of breed with regards to both product and criteria.

For the first time ever, brokers using Iress’ Xplan software, will be able, to input their clients’ requirements only once, via a single login. The system will then display results detailing the lenders who will accept the client based on both the products available and the criteria circumstances. This is dramatically different to other systems where brokers still need either separate logins, or to conduct searches on two separate parts of the system.

The products available are only a part of the information a broker requires when looking for the best outcome to suit their client needs. The product sourcing results alone will not tell you whether a lender will accept a client due to their criteria circumstances. For example, specific property types, or the client’s employment or financial history. This revolutionary integration changes this, by incorporating the lenders’ criteria stance into the product sourcing results, immediately shortlisting a more accurate selection of lenders.

This complements Iress’ ‘Lender Connect’ proposition which enables brokers to then apply from Xplan Mortgage directly to the lender, with all of the data pre-populated, eradicating the need to ever enter the client’s details more than once.

Nicola Firth, CEO of Knowledge Bank said: “The result of this collaboration is a system that will revolutionise the market. It creates the ultimate sourcing tool for brokers to get the best possible outcomes for their clients. It is no longer a viable option to search only for mortgage products and not criteria, not with over 52,000 criteria changes in 2020 alone – that’s 1000 changes to criteria every single week. So by teaming up with Iress we have ensured that brokers can get both the most accurate and up-to-date product and criteria information all in one place.

“Never again will it be necessary for brokers to log into multiple different systems, spending hours cross-referencing and rekeying client data, to find which lender will provide a mortgage for their client. This can now be done in moments, pulling all of the information into one place and providing robust evidence of research for compliance purposes satisfying the FCA’s requirements.

The need for a collaboration such as this has never been greater. Knowledge Bank holds over 125,000 pieces of lending criteria for over 250 lenders across eight different product areas from residential and buy-to-let to bridging and commercial.