This is a guest article written by Ishaan Malhi and first appeared in our collaborative e-book “The Future of Property,” which features 17 thought leadership articles covering PropTech, property investment and housing. You can download your free copy here.
Ishaan Malhi founded Trussle – the UK’s first online mortgage broker – in August 2015 after experiencing the traditionally complicated and inaccessible mortgage process first-hand. Ishaan previously worked as a Mortgages & Real Estate Analyst at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and as Entrepreneur in Residence at Playfair Capital. Under Ishaan’s leadership, Trussle has gone on to manage over £1 billion worth of mortgages on behalf of thousands of UK homeowners. Ishaan has been formally recognised as one of Britain’s top 100 entrepreneurs by the Sunday Times Maserati 100, while Trussle won PropTech Startup of The Year at the Elevator Pitch LIVE Awards.
“Technology will help us, not replace us.”
Three years ago I had an experience that quite literally changed my life. My mortgage adviser lost my paperwork. It sounds almost comical, but I can assure you that no one was laughing at the time. My adviser had returned from holiday two weeks after having previously met with me to discuss my mortgage options. I’d taken time off work to travel to his office and meet face-to-face. We’d spent hours talking through my details, and after completing a long application form, I was told that I’d receive a mortgage recommendation shortly after.
So it was somewhat of a surprise to hear they’d lost all record of my details when I called back for an update a week later. How could this have happened? To keep a long story short, this was actually the latest in a string of unfortunate events that ultimately soured the idea of buying my own home. My initial excitement was replaced with despair and frustration.
I shared my experience with family and friends, and soon realised that I wasn’t the only one left frustrated and disempowered by the whole process of finding a mortgage. It was clear to me that the industry was ripe for disruption – I knew there had to be a better way of doing things. My own experience of trying to find a mortgage led me to found Trussle shortly afterwards – the UK’s first online mortgage broker – to help everyone love their journey of owning a home.
At Trussle, we do many things differently to a traditional broker. We use technology to advise, broker, and manage the right mortgage for borrowers throughout their homeownership journey.
We’ve developed an automated Mortgage in Principle to help people quickly see what they could afford to borrow at any time, day or night. We’ve developed a slick online platform so our customers can easily provide their details and upload their documents within 15 minutes. We’ve developed algorithms to quickly and accurately distill thousands of available products into the one that matches our customers’ needs. We’ve focused on the mobile experience so they can track the progress of their application from any device at any time. We’ve developed our Mortgage Watch service – powered by a sophisticated algorithm – that continually manages the customer’s mortgage, notifying them if there are ever savings to be made by switching to another deal on the market. We’re busting the myths around mortgages, and the hundreds of five-star Trustpilot ratings we’ve received are the clearest indicator that people are more than happy to use a tech-enabled mortgage broker.
“Machines are increasingly deployed to take care of the heavy lifting and humans are reserved for their empathy and judgement.”
But we’re not developing technology to replace mortgage advisers. In fact, we have a growing team of advisers who are all doing a fantastic job of helping our customers understand their options and make that crucial decision of which product is right for their current and future circumstances. We use technology to free our advisers from the mundane admin so they can spend more of their time helping our customers. Our advisers find this focus much more fulfilling, and customers benefit from their expertise on demand.
We’ve seen this realised in many other industries, including property and finance themselves – machines are increasingly deployed to take care of the heavy lifting and humans are reserved for their empathy and judgement.
“Perhaps the most common concern we hear about our technological approach is the assumption that moving a service online will take away the personal touch.”
One of our early customers, a freelance designer called James, demonstrated this point perfectly. He came to us having just had an offer accepted on a new flat in a modern high-rise development. We’d just launched our service at this point, so understandably, James decided to use a traditional broker alongside Trussle. The traditional broker recommended James a great deal – to the extent that it was actually better than what we were able to find him, which shouldn’t have been possible! However, when we looked at the deal, we spotted a glaring mistake. The lender whose product had been recommended didn’t mortgage flats above a certain number of floors, and James’ flat was above their limit. Had James applied for the mortgage, he would have been rejected and may have had a mark on his credit report to show for it. The traditional broker had overlooked a seemingly tiny detail, but it wasn’t surprising – no one can possibly remember every lender’s wide-ranging and often-changing eligibility criteria. Had the broker been supported by an accurate and efficient algorithm, James wouldn’t have been susceptible to human error and the mistake wouldn’t have happened.
Perhaps the most common concern we hear about our technological approach is the assumption that moving a service online will take away the personal touch. That was certainly something I spent time thinking about before embarking on this journey, and something that was important to me to get right, especially when dealing with a financial commitment as big as a mortgage. While the tools we’ve developed have taken away the tedious and time-consuming elements of our mortgage team’s work, our online experience ensures we retain a personal and human touch. We’ve designed our product experience to be friendly, personable, and reassuring by using data to determine each customer’s journey. The data our customers provide allows us to understand each of their wants and needs, so every stage of the journey is tailored and personalised to their exact preferences. There’s no such thing as the generic: a homeowner looking to remortgage won’t see the same messages as an apprehensive first-time buyer. The informative and reassuring messages are saved for first-time buyers, while remortgagers are shown contextual information and help related to remortgaging. By personalising both the product experience and every interaction we have with our customers, we’re showing them that their unique circumstances are considered and important from the very beginning of their journey.
Our emphasis on the personal touch also comes to light in the way we think about our customers. The traditional mortgage process is often very much led by the broker – many steps of the process are hidden from the customer, while mortgage jargon stands in the way of accessibility. Our technological approach empowers customers with the confidence and control they deserve for one of the biggest emotional and financial decisions we’ll ever make.
– Written by Ishaan Malhi
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