Balancing the Human Touch with Intelligent Technology

For mortgage brokers, the industry can sometimes feel polarised.

On one side are lenders investing heavily in technology - streamlined portals, instant decisions and slick dashboards - but often designed around standardised, “vanilla” cases. Juxtaposed with this are specialist and regional lenders who excel at complex underwriting and human judgment, but whose systems haven’t always kept pace with brokers’ expectations for speed, transparency and control.

At Mansfield Building Society, our ambition is clear: to combine the best of both worlds.

That’s why we’re putting technology investment firmly at the heart of our intermediary proposition, without losing sight of the reason brokers come to us in the first place.

Technology that supports brokers, not just systems

Over the past year, we’ve been preparing to launch our new mortgage broker portal following our decision to work with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) as our core banking technology partner. As a building society, we don’t take decisions like this lightly. Choosing a global provider known for delivering enterprise-level banking solutions was about more than modernising systems, it was about ensuring we could build technology that genuinely works for intermediaries.

But advanced technology alone doesn’t guarantee better outcomes.

For brokers, progress isn’t defined by how automated a lender becomes. It’s defined by how easy it is to place cases, how clear the journey is, and how confidently you can manage your client’s expectations. From day one, our focus has been on ensuring our new systems reflect our lending philosophy - not dilute it.

Designed around real cases, not the ‘perfect borrower’

Brokers don’t come to building societies like Mansfield for automated credit scoring or rigid acceptance rules. They come to us because their clients don’t always fit neatly into predefined boxes.

Self-employed borrowers, complex income structures, later-life lending, credit nuances - these are the situations where a human conversation and underwriter discretion still matter. We fully recognise that these types of cases can involve additional questions and a deeper understanding of individual circumstances.

What brokers rightly expect, however, is that complexity shouldn’t mean unnecessary friction.

As one long‑standing Mansfield intermediary commented:

“Our clients rarely fit a textbook profile, so we need lenders who are flexible without being inefficient. Mansfield’s new system strikes that balance perfectly - it speeds up the parts that should be simple, while leaving room for underwriters to properly assess more unusual cases. That combination is exactly what brokers need right now.”

Jon Stones, Managing Director - Mortgage 1st

This combination — efficiency where it helps and human judgement where it matters — is exactly what we set out to achieve.

A simpler, more transparent journey for brokers

At launch, our new system will already deliver meaningful improvements for intermediaries:

• Streamlined DIP and application journeys that reduce duplication and improve accuracy
• Affordability checks embedded at DIP stage, helping avoid last‑minute surprises
• Real‑time case updates, delivered automatically via email and SMS, keeping brokers and clients informed without chasing

As development continues, we’ll be integrating key elements of lending policy directly into the journey - not to impose automated decisioning, but to support brokers earlier in the process and free up underwriter capacity for the cases that truly need human assessment.

This approach also opens the door to more dynamic product selection, ensuring brokers can be confident they’re placing clients on the most appropriate option based on their circumstances.

Keeping pace with big lenders - without becoming one

There’s no doubt that brokers expect lenders of all sizes to offer intuitive, reliable digital journeys. Technology investment is no longer optional, even for specialist lenders.

However, matching the pace of larger lenders doesn’t mean adopting their model.

Our goal is not to become a commoditised, automated lender chasing volume. It’s to use modern technology to protect and enhance our niche, ensuring brokers can access specialist lending backed by human judgment - without compromising on efficiency, visibility or service levels.

The future of lending is hybrid

As our partnership with TCS continues, we see this portal not as an endpoint, but as the foundation for the next phase of Mansfield’s intermediary proposition.

The future of lending isn’t fully automated or fully manual. It’s hybrid - where intelligent technology does the heavy lifting, and experienced people focus on understanding the borrower behind the application.

For brokers and their clients, that means getting the reassurance of a lender who will take the time to listen, alongside the confidence that their case is progressing efficiently in the background.

In an increasingly complex world, personal, human lending shouldn’t come at the expense of modern service. At Mansfield Building Society, we believe it should be strengthened by it.

For adviser use only. Please note this content has been supplied by our lender partner and as such, is their responsibility. No party shall have any right of action against Legal & General in relation to the accuracy or completeness of the information in this article.