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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Mortgage sourcing data is the structured information advisers use to narrow a large lender market to products that may fit a client. It combines lender product facts, some eligibility rules and the applicant’s financial details, needs and preferences. The resulting list is a starting shortlist—not a mortgage offer and not a complete prediction of underwriting.
Advisers still need to check lender-specific criteria, affordability methods, property restrictions, case complexity and service reliability before recommending a mortgage. Understanding that boundary helps you interpret a sourcing result correctly and ask better questions about any recommendation.
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What information is available in mortgage sourcing systems?
A sourcing system stores comparable information supplied by lenders and accepts the customer information an adviser enters. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) describes the shared information as product information and, increasingly, some eligibility criteria. The exact fields differ between systems, lenders and product feeds.
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Product details
Product fields normally describe the financial terms an adviser needs for an initial comparison. The FCA’s 2018 mortgage-intermediary research identifies four especially useful comparison points:
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- the initial or incentive interest rate;
- the reversion rate that applies after the initial period;
- upfront fees, including product or lender fees; and
- maximum loan-to-value (LTV).
Other product information may include the term, repayment basis, fixed or variable period, early-repayment charges, permitted overpayments and whether fees can be added to the loan. A system may display these fields differently, so the adviser must confirm the lender’s current illustration and offer conditions.
Eligibility and criteria fields
Some systems also hold rules that can eliminate an unsuitable product before a full application. Examples include maximum LTV for a property type, minimum or maximum loan size, residency requirements, acceptable income types, minimum age and restrictions on repayment vehicles. These rules are useful filters, but they are not the same as a lender’s complete underwriting policy.
Customer information entered by the adviser
Before filtering, an adviser gathers facts about the applicant and the proposed borrowing. Depending on the case, that can include:
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- employment status, occupation and length of service;
- verified gross basic employment income;
- bonus, commission, overtime or other employment income;
- self-employment income and the period of accounts available;
- pension, investment, benefit and other income;
- existing commitments, household expenditure and dependants;
- deposit, property value, requested loan and term;
- credit history information and any adverse events;
- property tenure, construction, use and location; and
- the client’s priorities, such as payment certainty, flexibility or a low initial rate.
FCA mortgage-sales reporting fields also refer to verified net income, lender fees, intermediary or third-party fees, fees added to the loan, and procuration fees or other material non-cash inducements paid by a lender. Those are reporting categories; they do not mean every sourcing screen displays every field.
How advisers use the data, step by step
The adviser’s work normally moves from factual collection to filtering, investigation and judgment. A typical process is:
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- Establish the client’s circumstances. The adviser records income, expenditure, deposit, property details, existing borrowing, credit circumstances, required loan and term, and the client’s needs and preferences.
- Translate facts into sourcing criteria. The adviser enters the relevant values and selections, such as loan amount, LTV, repayment type, income source, product term and acceptable payment structure.
- Filter products from multiple lenders. The system removes products that fail the criteria it contains and returns a shortlist. This is a mechanical use of stored facts and rules.
- Compare the remaining products. The adviser reviews initial and reversion rates, fees, LTV, charges and other consistent fields. A lower initial rate can have a higher fee or a less attractive reversion rate, so the fields must be considered together.
- Check information the feed cannot express reliably. The adviser investigates lender requirements for self-employed income, bonus treatment, credit events, property construction, flats above commercial premises, unusual lease terms and other specialist issues.
- Assess lender fit and execution risk. Knowledge of a lender’s appetite, documentation expectations, underwriting approach, processing speed and service quality can affect which otherwise-eligible option is practical.
- Make and explain a recommendation. The adviser uses the verified facts, the client’s priorities and professional judgment to recommend an option and explain trade-offs, costs and uncertainties.
The system therefore supports the recommendation; it does not replace the adviser’s case assessment or the lender’s underwriting.
Which mortgage features are easy to compare?
Standardised product fields can be compared relatively consistently. Qualitative case-fit factors are harder to represent in a single ranked list.
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|---|---|---|
| Initial rate | Advertised fixed, discounted or tracker rate and its period | Eligibility for that rate, payment calculation and conditions in the illustration |
| Reversion rate | The rate applying after the initial deal | Whether the client expects to refinance before reversion and the lender’s current follow-on terms |
| Upfront fees | Product, valuation or other listed lender fees | Which fees are refundable, payable on application or added to the loan, and any intermediary charges |
| Maximum LTV | The highest stated borrowing percentage for a product or category | Property-specific limits, valuation outcome and whether the client’s income supports the borrowing |
| Income treatment | Some basic eligibility selections | How the lender verifies bonus, overtime, commission, self-employed profit or multiple income sources |
| Property acceptability | Some property-type restrictions | Construction, lease, location, tenure and valuation issues that may be assessed manually |
| Affordability | Possibly an indicative result based on entered inputs | The lender’s full affordability model, stress assumptions, expenditure treatment and credit assessment |
| Service | Sometimes service indicators or adviser experience outside the core feed | Current processing times, documentation requests and the lender’s ability to handle the case |
The FCA’s May 2018 findings specifically caution that income-verification requirements for self-employed applicants and restrictions on property types are more difficult to compare than rates and fees. Those findings describe the systems and market studied at that time, not a guarantee about every platform in 2026.
Why a sourcing result is not a mortgage approval
A returned product has passed the rules and inputs available to the system. It has not necessarily passed the lender’s complete affordability, fraud, credit-score, valuation or underwriting process.
The FCA’s Mortgages Market Study reported that product details and some eligibility criteria were shared through existing sourcing tools, while information about a lender’s approach to affordability, risk appetite and credit scoring was not widely shared. Some lenders regarded that information as proprietary or were concerned that detailed rules could enable fraud or gaming.
That limitation creates several possible outcomes:
- A product appears in the shortlist but the lender later rejects the income evidence.
- The maximum LTV shown is reduced after a valuation or a property-specific review.
- A self-employed applicant meets a broad system rule but fails the lender’s detailed calculation of sustainable profit.
- An adverse credit event, missed payment or undisclosed commitment changes the lender’s decision.
- The lender accepts the case only with a lower loan, different term or additional conditions.
The responsible description is “shortlisted from the available sourcing data,” not “guaranteed to be accepted” or “the cheapest mortgage you qualify for.”
What “likely to qualify” means in practice
When a system indicates likely eligibility, it is applying the customer’s entered information to the criteria held in that system. It can be a useful first screen, especially for straightforward employed cases with standard properties. It cannot establish the lender’s final decision where the lender uses information or judgment that the feed does not expose.
Cases that often need extra lender checking
- self-employed applicants with short trading histories, fluctuating profits or retained-company earnings;
- variable pay, commission, overtime, tips or multiple jobs;
- recent job changes, probation periods or non-standard employment;
- credit impairments, county court judgments, arrears or debt-management arrangements;
- new-build, listed, non-standard or mixed-use properties;
- short leases, unusual construction, high-rise buildings or property above commercial premises;
- large loans, high income multiples or complex ownership arrangements; and
- borrowers whose expenditure, dependants or future plans make affordability sensitive.
For these cases, the adviser may seek a lender decision in principle, use a lender’s criteria service, speak to an underwriter or obtain written confirmation before presenting the option as viable.
Information, eligibility filtering and regulated advice
The FCA distinguishes objective information from advice. PERG 4.6.13 states: “In the FCA’s view, advice requires an element of opinion on the part of the adviser.” Providing factual rates, fees or eligibility results is generally information. Simple filtering using objective factors such as price or stated eligibility is not generally advice when the tool does not comment on the merits of taking a particular mortgage.
The boundary can change when a system uses extensive customer inputs and judgment to select products presented as meeting that person’s requirements and wishes. That activity is more likely to be regulated advice. Automated delivery does not remove the issue: FCA guidance says software prompts encouraging a customer to remortgage are generally liable to be advice and financial promotions, subject to the circumstances in which the user controls enough of the parameters and inputs. The classification depends on how the service operates; it is not determined solely by whether a person or software produces the result.
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How lender knowledge changes the recommendation
Two products with similar rates and fees may not be interchangeable. An adviser may prefer one because its published criteria match the client’s income evidence, its valuation policy suits the property, or its case team is more likely to handle an unusual circumstance efficiently. Conversely, a product that ranks well on rate may be unsuitable if a known restriction is likely to cause a decline.
This is also why an adviser should explain the scope of the search. FCA rules say a firm should not use the term “independent mortgage adviser” unless its product range across the relevant market is unlimited. A firm with a restricted panel must describe that limitation accurately, because a shortlist from a restricted range is not the same as a whole-of-market search.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Costs, fees and incentives to check
Ask for a clear breakdown of every cost associated with the recommended mortgage. Separate the lender’s product fee from the adviser’s fee, valuation or legal costs, and any fee added to the loan. Adding a fee increases the balance and therefore the interest paid over time, even when the initial payment appears unchanged.
FCA reporting distinguishes procuration fees and other material non-cash inducements paid by a lender. Their existence does not by itself show that a recommendation is unsuitable, but the adviser should explain relevant remuneration and how the recommendation was selected.
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Before accepting a recommendation, ask the adviser to identify what came directly from the sourcing system and what was confirmed separately. A useful review covers:
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- the initial rate, reversion rate, deal length and payment basis;
- all lender, broker and third-party fees, including any added to the loan;
- the LTV used and the effect of a lower valuation;
- early-repayment charges, overpayment rights and portability;
- the income and expenditure figures used in affordability;
- how bonus, overtime, self-employment or benefits were treated;
- property features that could trigger a manual review;
- the lender’s evidence requirements and expected timetable; and
- the reason this product fits the client’s stated priorities better than the alternatives considered.
If an answer depends on a lender rule not shown in the sourcing output, ask for confirmation rather than assuming the shortlist proves it.
What the FCA statistics say about advised borrowing
The FCA’s Occasional Paper No. 34 was updated on 3 June 2026, but the percentages in that paper analyse the pre- and post-2014 Mortgage Market Review comparison. In the studied market, advised mortgage sales to new customers rose from around 75% before the review to more than 98% afterwards. Intermediated sales to new customers were reported at roughly 50% to 67% across the same comparison.
The paper describes the estimated borrowing-cost effects of the advice requirement as “small and ambiguous.” That finding does not mean advice always lowers costs; it means the paper’s analysis did not establish a clear, consistently sized cost reduction. The figures should therefore be read as historical market analysis, not as a promise about an individual case or a current lender panel.
Bottom line for borrowers
Mortgage sourcing data is a powerful way to organise lender products, rates, fees, LTV limits and some eligibility rules. Advisers improve the result by entering accurate information, comparing the consistent fields, checking qualitative criteria and applying knowledge of lender underwriting and service. The shortlist narrows the search; only lender assessment establishes whether the mortgage can be offered. Treat every result as evidence to investigate, and make sure the final recommendation is tied to your circumstances, priorities, costs and the stated scope of the adviser’s service.
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