LEX Awards - the new signpost when shopping for a mortgage

First Direct and Coventry Building Society are the best lenders when it comes to customer service, according to over 8,000 UK homebuyers who in an independent survey were asked how they had been treated from the mortgage application to completion stages.

As a result of their performance both lenders have achieved Platinum Standard (for best specialist direct lender and best high street lender, respectively) in the Lending Excellence Awards (LEX) which were launched last year by Lending Strategy, a business magazine for mortgage lenders, to provide a snapshot of service standards across the country and act a signpost for home buyers shopping for a mortgage.

Coventry Building Society has in fact usurped Nationwide, last year’s winner of the LEX Platinum Award, as the top high street lender when it comes to delivering customer service. But it has to be noted that Nationwide has not exactly fallen from grace - it is just that Coventry has raised the bar and set new standards for the sector!

With First Direct, over 70% of its respondents would “definitely” recommend the lender’s services to friends and family. This is the highest score in this category and represents a true reflection of the regard with which the company is held by its customers.

The findings are based on the returns of 8,009 respondents who completed both their mortgages and the LEX survey between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2007, thus providing a significant level of data for the Awards.

In addition to the Platinum Awards there are six Gold Awards made to lenders in order to recognise their outstanding overall performance. The Gold winners are (in alphabetical order):

Cheltenham & Gloucester
Co-operative Bank
Intelligent Finance
National Bank of Australia (comprising the Clydesdale and Yorkshire
Bank brands)
Nationwide Building Society
Royal Bank of Scotland

Coventry was among last year’s six Golds. In the Gold Award category for the first time are National Bank of Australia and Royal Bank of Scotland while Co-operative Bank and Intelligent Finance retain their position.

Finally, there are three Capital Blue Special LEX Awards. These went to Yorkshire Building Society for its excellent performance in the area of customer satisfaction, and to Chelsea Building Society and GE Money Home Lending in recognition of their excellent performance in the transparency category.