What Is Open Banking

What Is Open Banking And How Can It Help With Your Mortgage Application?

Open Banking is a relatively new initiative set up to help remove the technical barriers that stop your accounts from working better together when held with different banks and providers and is a secure way to give providers access to your financial information. The system allows you to share your account information with other banks, online retailers and other businesses to create services and products and manage credit applications more efficiently.

It's thought that Open Banking could 'unlock' the banking industry – make it more competitive, provide more choice for consumers and boost innovation, which can only be a good thing for us, the customer. But how does Open Banking help with your mortgage application?

When you apply for a mortgage, it can feel that you are at the whim of the lender and their sometimes lengthy list of requirements - no matter how much Greenshoots Financial helps make the process as easy and seamless as possible! You may have experienced the inconvenience when the lender requests two years of mortgage statements and three months worth of personal and business bank statements. It's a feeling of frustration at the time it will take to get the information together. It's the inconvenience of finding a scanner or a Smartphone App to ensure you get the documents in the format needed.

However, now Open Banking may well be a great solution as it allows you to share your account details directly with the mortgage lender, saving you time and the hassle of having to gather all the statements yourself. One lender has suggested that a mortgage offer could be made within just a few hours of an application being submitted by using a combination of Open Banking, Electronic ID checks, Automatic Income Verification and Automated Property Valuations. Imagine that? A mortgage offer being made within hours of an application being submitted rather than the typical four or even six weeks.

It is worth noting that not all applications will be able to benefit from such swift processing. However, if it's not possible, Greenshoots Financial are experts at managing your application to make sure you get your mortgage offer as quickly and as stress-free as possible.

Reach out to see how we can help you with your mortgage and insurance requirement - get in touch here.