Nottingham Building Society revamps mortgage applications

Nottingham Building Society has replaced legacy systems with a new mortgage application supplied by Finnish software specialist Tieto.

The new system, which went live in September, will automate much of the mortgage application process required by the building society for its independent mortgage seller network.

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The system is intended to shorten the time and manpower needed to complete mortgage applications, improving customer service and hopefully driving revenues.

It is understood the building society's lending and IT departments will each be reduced by 25 per cent as a result of the process automation.

Within two weeks of the system going live, around half of the building society's independent sellers shifted to sending applications online rather than by paper - now, almost all of them have shunned hard copies.

Nottingham Building Society head of IT Jack Cutts told silicon.com: "This technology is absolutely key to everything we do."

Cutts said Tieto worked with his IT staff from the start to train them in the system, ensuring they were proficient in maintaining it from the day it went live.

The application has proved popular with its mortgage intermediary network because it cuts down the amount of administration they need to do and speeds up mortgage approvals, according to Cutts.

"The bits of the process where we can't add value, the intermediaries can now do themselves. We think customers will go to where the processes are the easiest. It frees up staff here to spend their time building services that drive more business our way," Cutts added.

The installation comes as part of a root and branch rip and replace of the building society's entire IT infrastructure.