Cherry forum to act as mediator between brokers, lenders and providers

There is now a space for brokers to share their frustrations and suggestions to lenders and providers to encourage change on the Cherry forum, following requests from users.

Cherry said it always aimed to create a way for industry players to communicate directly and drive improvement in the sector.

The dedicated thread on the forum is expected to allow lenders and providers to see what advisers and brokers want to see from them and potentially implement those changes. 

Improving broker and provider communication through Cherry

Donna Hopton, director at Cherry, said it would be clear to anyone who read the Cherry broker forum in the last two years that the communication between brokers and advisers needed improving. 

She added: “It’s important to stress that this extends beyond just lenders: it covers the whole gamut of providers including independent financial adviser (IFA) product providers as well as networks, IT providers and many more. 

“At Cherry, we’re increasingly finding that advisers want us to channel their feedback through to providers, as they seem hugely frustrated by what may possibly be viewed as collective deafness across the provider community to intermediary concerns. 

“This new thread on Cherry is accessible only by ‘advisers’ so they need to rely on us to communicate their messages to lenders and providers.” 

Hopton said advisers just wanted to guide providers and give them a better understanding of what works and what needs fixing. 

An example of this recently occurred on Cherry, when advisers told lenders they did not want them to notify a client of a mortgage offer by text at the same time an adviser was emailed with the news. 

The adviser said on Cherry: “The happy moment of telling a client that their offer has been issued is a nice positive and some lenders even steal that from us now. They do not tell clients when a case is declined so they also should not do instant notifications about offers.” 

Making everyone’s lives easier 

Hopton said as well as listening and acting on feedback from the thread, providers should make use of the sections allocated to them on Cherry. 

She added: “Many providers have already taken up this opportunity and are posting regularly in their own company dedicated forums, but many more need to come on board so that the industry and [advisers] communicate both horizontally and vertically, thus speeding up the ongoing improvement process. 

“Through Cherry, the entire mortgage and financial services arenas now have opportunities for engagement that have not existed in the past. We want everyone’s lives to be made easier, and at the same time, our aim is to achieve improvements in both consumer perception and actual satisfaction.”