Over the past few weeks, we’ve been taking a look behind the scenes at CHL Mortgages to tell you what happens when you place a mortgage application with us. In the final part of our series, we’re speaking with Vic Sharples, our Head of Secured Lending.
Introducing Vic Sharples, Head of Secured Lending
Overseeing the teams responsible for the complex journey of a mortgage application from start to finish requires leadership, technical expertise and experience. We spoke with Vic Sharples about her role at the crossroads of underwriting, completions, servicing, risk and customer experience.
Who and what are you responsible for?
I lead the teams responsible for assessing risk and underwriting applications in line with our policies and risk appetite, ensuring that the decisions we make deliver good customer outcomes and meet all regulatory requirements. I’m focused on building, developing and empowering high-performing teams to consistently achieve our aspirational service standards, while maximising operational capability through continuous improvement, process efficiency and streamlined ways of working.
What does a strong partnership between the different functions you’re responsible for look like to you?
I believe open, honest and clear communication is key to ensuring we’re aligned, working towards the same goal and striving for good customer outcomes. We aim to be efficient and to support lending in the quickest timeframe possible, so long as the applicant and the security make commercial sense. Service is our unique selling point, and we pride ourselves on having underwriters who’re able to discuss cases and work collaboratively with brokers and our own wider teams to ensure we consistently deliver exceptional service.
What does operational excellence look like to you?
Operational excellence means ensuring the teams have the skills and tools they need to support brokers, understand the complexity of each deal and have the autonomy to make the right lending decisions using their expertise.
How do you balance efficiency, risk control and customer experience when making operational decisions?
The team managers and I work closely to ensure we have the right level of resource where it’s needed, and that our underwriters have the tools, knowledge and training to make informed decisions. We’re on a continuous improvement journey, constantly looking for ways to enhance the customer experience. We review performance data and feedback to identify more effective ways of working, while operating within all regulatory requirements.
How do you personally define a ‘good’ underwriting decision?
In simple terms, it’s a decision that delivers the right outcome for both the Bank and the customer. It means assessing the key risks and putting appropriate mitigants in place, whether that’s ensuring the customer can comfortably repay the debt, or that the security is sound. Unfortunately, on occasion the right decision may result in us declining to progress an application, but we’ll always endeavour to understand the deal in its entirety before coming to any lending decision.
What are the biggest bottlenecks in underwriting workflows and how would you fix them?
At this moment in time volatility in the market is making things unpredictable and we’ve had to react to unexpected increases in applications linked to product offerings and market movement. This presents operational challenges, but we work hard to prioritise our workloads and flex our resource across brands when needed. This can create challenges if underwriters have to pick up cases they aren’t necessarily familiar with and have to take a little bit of time to understand the case before progressing. We’re sometimes subject to delays with third parties too such as valuers and solicitors but the key to all of this is keeping the broker informed of the progress of their application.
How do you handle situations where a broker disagrees with an underwriting decision?
The key is to take the time to explain the decision clearly and the reasons we’re unable to progress the application. While we’d like to support every case that we review, that isn’t always possible. However, I believe the way we manage declines is what differentiates us. By discussing the rationale with the broker and setting out our risk appetite and requirements, we can provide clarity and help them position future cases more effectively. When handled well, these conversations often strengthen relationships and lead to new opportunities in the future.
How do you ensure brokers and their clients feel supported throughout the lending journey?
By being accessible, proactive and clear throughout the end-to-end journey. Underwriters are available to discuss cases with brokers at the outset and during assessment, so expectations are set early on and any key risks, requirements or potential mitigants are understood. We provide regular, proactive updates as the application progresses through outbound calls and timely update emails, so brokers are never left chasing for information. We also have dedicated lending support on hand to respond quickly to inbound calls and queries, helping to resolve day-to-day questions and keep applications moving. Where additional information is required, we’re specific about what we need and why which is key to supporting brokers, and we work collaboratively with them to agree realistic timescales. Ultimately, it’s this commitment to providing brokers with dependable and reliable service that helps build long-term trust and reinforces the value we bring as a specialist lender.
Thanks for your time, Vic. That’s been a fascinating insight into what’s involved behind the scenes in creating a specialist lending experience that gives brokers confidence in the process and delivers a smooth experience for their clients.
And thanks to you for reading our series of articles about what happens when you place a case with CHL Mortgages. If you’ve missed any of the previous three articles, you can find them all in the News section.
And don’t forget, if you need any support with a case, you can speak with your business development manager or a member of our telephone support team on 01252 365888 between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday. If it’s after hours, our website is packed full of useful information, such as documents and guides, searchable criteria and FAQs and submission checklist which you may find useful.
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