EDM Mortgage Support Services managing director Joe Pepper believes that seven-day switching is easily attainable following a survey that suggested 80% of UK consumers would take advantage of the service.
More than half of those quizzed (51%) said that it was "absolutely" a good idea to do so, while some 29% thought "probably" to be the case. Only 2% said "definitely not" when they were probed for the survey, according to research by EDM MSS.
The government announced new proposals which would allow consumers to switch provider in a week or less last year but the plans were met with a mixed bag of responses from those working within the industry.
Of those respondents asked who had switched mortgage provider recently, 27% said that the process was difficult (22% said "quite difficult" while just 6% said it was "very easy", according to the research. And almost a third (31%) said the process was so tricky or costly that they were put off from switching again.
Mr Pepper said he passionately believes that seven-day switching is easily attainable as the technology already existed to enable those in the mortgage process to make it so.
He added: "For instance, the process of assessing just how much money should be lent on a property can take several days but by using EDM MSS’s PRISM product, Nationwide Building Society has been able to reduce this time to less than 30 seconds.
“The extended times taken to re-mortgage can be linked to the antiquated technology and processes used by the industry. Even with much of the underlying information required to complete a switch already in a data format and available at the touch of the button, the process is sadly hampered by competing systems, an over-reliance on paper documentation and resistance to the adoption of new technologies.
“Our research points to significant demand for better switching processes and outcomes by UK consumers – and this is a sentiment that we believe will only increase as powerful technologies and new service offerings influence the UK mortgage sector.
"In an era when technology is continuing to have a significant impact on businesses processes, data management and customer behaviours – and people are already able to switch current account and utilities providers in seven days – and it is clear that the pressure on the mortgage sector to follow suit will only escalate.”