Smart Money People, the UK’s most comprehensive financial services review site, has released its H1 2026 Mortgage Lender Benchmark covering mortgage broker opinions on UK mortgage lenders for the first half of 2026.
The bi-annual independent research study, run by Smart Money People, has found that the overall satisfaction with mortgage lenders remained fairly stable with a score of 4.22 out of 5, only 0.03 down on H2 2025.
The building society sector has the top-rated Broker Experience Index of 73.6, replacing the mainstream lender sector, who were top-rated in the H2 2025 report, but now follows closely in second at 70.8.
The overall Broker Experience Index – which combines multiple satisfaction and service metrics, such as speed, service, digital tools and support – shows only a marginal dip from H2 2025 at 70.2, compared to 71.0.
New for H1 2026, Smart Money People has introduced The Broker Perception Map within the report. This brings together multiple measures of broker experience to assess lenders across two key dimensions – overall experience strength and the balance between operational delivery and relationship-led support.
This marks the sixteenth edition of the Mortgage Lender Benchmark, which analyses the state of the mortgage industry according to brokers’ views. The bi-annual study is the industry’s largest broker feedback survey, enabling lenders to form valuable insights to help understand the market. The latest edition comprises feedback from 980brokers at 510 firms, who gave their opinions on 126 lenders, representing 98.1% of UK gross mortgage lending.
The average Net Promoter Score (NPS) for all lenders is now +40.9, down 0.4-points from H2 2025.
Halifax was once again named the best mainstream lender by brokers, also repeating its win for best overall broker experience, while Nationwide Building Society was named the best building society lender. Elsewhere, the best later life lender was again Pure Retirement, with Pepper Money recognised as the top specialist lender – retaining its H2 2025 position.
Others retaining their top spots are BM Solutions as a Buy to let specialist and Allica Bank as the top bridging / commercial lender. Atom bank was also once again recognised as the best digital-first lender.
Jake Sandford, Head of Data and Analytics at Smart Money People, commented:
“Despite the rate volatility that occurred during the first half of this year, it’s clear from these results that lenders across the sector broadly maintained their high standards to support brokers and their customers during uncertain times. However, the slight dip in metrics across the board alludes to the issues faced by the industry in the first half of this year, and as always, undoubtedly lessons will have been learnt by the lending community this time around.”
Hamza Behzad, Business Development Director at Finova – this edition’s headline sponsor – added:
“As a technology provider powering one in 5 mortgages in the UK and with nearly £50 billion in loans and savings under management, Finova sees the Smart Money People Mortgage Lender Benchmark as a valuable source of insight into what is working well across the market and where there are opportunities to improve.
By giving lenders access to meaningful feedback and performance data, the benchmark helps drive continuous improvement and supports better outcomes across the mortgage market. This aligns closely with our focus on enabling a more efficient, data-driven and customer-centric mortgage ecosystem.”
To find out more about Smart Money People’s Mortgage Lender Benchmark, contact [email protected].
