….with our new application form!
Begin by searching
The idea is that a user can filter down their mortgage options using our mortgage search and then select a mortgage they would like.
One good thing is that we check to see if they are eligible as part of the process, so the user won’t see products that they might not be able to get (as you usually do on best buy tables).
Apply online
Once they know which product they want, they can go on to fill in an application form for that product. I outlined it on our company blog here.
The main aim with the form was to try and make it simple to fill out because most people associate a mortgage application with lots of boring paperwork, and it’s true, there is a lot of information that’s needed. I counted over 500 fields!
So our aim was to make the form as short as possible whilst still recording enough detail.
Initially we looked at all of the information that was required in an application and removed any fields that we felt could be collected at a later stage. The credit card details information fell into this category, as these can be obtained by the mortgage advisor.
We reused as much information as we could from the registration and previous journey that the customer has taken.
So,the form is prepopulated where possible: the image below is for a non-registered user, and the the one below that is for a registered user.
We divided the form into sections and, you only see the ones that you need. For example, if you’ve worked at the same job for more than three years, we will not need to know about your previous employment.
As the form is pretty long, also use the functional navigation to indicate how far along in the process you are and avoid disorientation!
There’s also a bit of encouragement here and there on the form!
The side bar indicates what information the user will need to have to hand, to save them time.
Above this, is the “We’re here to help’ the button that the user can click on to get help at any point throughout the form. This goes through to our mortgage team who can give help on the form itself or can advise on a mortgage, whatever the user needs.
Once the user submits their application, they get an email with details of their application. The mortgage team at lovemoney.com also get an email alerting them to the new application and they can view it so avoid asking rafts of questions and can get on with helping with the application.
So hopefully the process of applying for a mortgage is a bit less tedious than normal.
