"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."
- Jake Sandford - Smart Money People
Overall satisfaction with mortgage lenders has remained fairly stable, according to Smart Money People’s 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 found that the overall satisfaction with mortgage lenders scored 4.22 out of 5, down 0.03 on H2 2025.
The building society sector has the top-rated Broker Experience Index of 73.6, replacing the mainstream lender sector, which was 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 a marginal dip at 70.2, compared to 71.0 in H2 2025.
H1 2026 also saw the introduction of the Broker Perception Map within the report, bringing 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. The latest edition comprises feedback from 980 brokers 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 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, said: "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."
