Please note that you can expand any of the screenshots by right-clicking them and selecting open in a new tab. The applicable screenshot follows each sentence.
In this guide
Home Screen
Sourcing Brain’s home screen provides the ability to create a new client or recall an existing client; browse for available products without the need for client data; source for available products; link off to a range of calculators; quote for third party insurances or peruse the latest news from Mortgage Brain or lender product update information.
To go straight into sourcing, and collect client data along the way, select the Source button on the Sourcing tile.
This next screen provides the ability to select the Purchase Type, whether it is a residential or buy-to-let property, first charge or second charge product or whether the client has adverse credit history. If adverse or buy-to-let filters are selected, then the Adverse/BTL filters screens will become active and accessible from the tiles titled the same.
The Lender and Products section allows the selection of a different lender panel or specific lenders. Additional lender panels can also be created (if allowed) by using the Settings function, detailed in a separate user guide.
The Current Mortgage Details section applies to home mover, remortgage and second charge cases. By specifying the client’s current lender, this enables product transfer and retention products to be displayed in the sourcing list.
If your client is remortgaging, by completing the existing monthly payment and the cost to redeem the existing loan now, this will display the potential cost saving for the client (if applicable) if they were to switch to a different lender and/or product.
If searching for second charge and remortgage products, then completing this section, together with the client’s existing monthly payment allows the software to calculate costs for remortgage vs second charge.
There is also the facility to source withdrawn products if there is a requirement to reproduce an illustration for a previously withdrawn product. The withdrawn filter can be found on the Product Details tile.
Once the client’s criteria has been chosen from this screen, the Source button will allow the sourcing criteria to be entered.
With an increase in lenders specifying minimum and maximum salary requirements for single or joint applicants, a number of changes have been made to Sourcing Brain for all lender variants.
Sourcing Screen
The sourcing screen allows the majority of the client’s sourcing criteria to be entered on one screen, therefore ensuring the results can be displayed within seconds.
It allows the collection of client data and mortgage details (as shown above). If Sourcing Brain has been launched from a back office system, then the majority of this data will already have been pre-populated into the relevant fields.
The More Filters icon, shown on the left hand side on the screen above, will display additional filters in some of the tiles where further filters can be applied if necessary for the product search.
The orange arrows indicate that there are further tiles of information that can be completed if required.
Note: It is not necessary to complete all of these tiles before sourcing. They are available prior to sourcing if refining of the search is necessary, but can also be accessed once the scheme results have been displayed.
Best Buys
The best buy tables (accessed by pressing the Best Buy icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen) are designed to be client specific, therefore providing information that is meaningful to the client. Standard default options are available to choose from, which are based on Rate Control or Rate Type.
If selecting 2, 3, or 5 year best buy tables, this will display fixed, tracker, and all products that are applicable to the client for the selected time period.
If selecting the best buy options for fixed, variable, or all products, this will display the relevant rate type based on time periods of 2 years, 3 years and 5 years.
Once the client data and mortgage details have been completed, the relevant best buy table can be selected from the options (as indicated below). The Best Buys will automatically be displayed.
The best buy screen displays the three tables for the selected best buy option. Each table clearly indicates the rate control or initial rate type. Each table is calculated on cost over the specified time period (cost inc. fees & ERC over Nyrs), displayed in ascending order. The columns displayed are fixed by default and cannot be modified.
As the best buy tables are designed as an opportunity for discussion with a client, an illustration cannot be produced from the best buy tables. By selecting the All Results button at the top of one of the tables, this will display all products for the Initial Rate Type or Rate Control so that full sourcing and/or the production of an illustration can be carried out.
Affordability
From the Mortgage Details tile, Sourcing Brain provides the ability to record the client’s maximum monthly payment that the client can afford for their mortgage. Using this function will source on products where the initial monthly payment meets the client’s affordability.
An affordability column is also included in the scheme results. The amber indicator highlights that the product may be affordable for the client on the initial rate, but subsequent rate changes means that it could be unaffordable.
To find out further information on the affordability of the product, the Details icon contains a tile titled Affordability. Within this tile is a table showing the rate steps of the product, where applicable, and also stress testing of the monthly mortgage payments in the event of a rate rise.
If an illustration is to be produced for an ‘amber’ product, then before this can be displayed a reason must be entered to explain why this product has been chosen for the client.
This reason is then recorded within the Affordability document which accompanies the illustration and supporting material. The Affordability document can be used for compliance checking and is one of the documents automatically pulled back into a CRM if Sourcing Brain is integrated.
Applicant tiles
The Applicant 1 and Applicant 2 tiles allow for the collection of client data for Applicant 1 and/or Applicant 2, if not already pre-populated from a back office system. The More Filters button allows additional data to be collected, this applies to all of the tiles.
Using the Applicant 2 button at the bottom of the screen hides and reveals the Applicant 2 details.
Only the age and basic salary fields are mandatory on this screen.
Mortgage Details
The property price/deposit equity and loan required auto calculate depending on which two figures are entered, but they are mandatory fields when sourcing.
The term can be split into years and months and the Show cost over automatically defaults to 5 years but can be changed to match the client’s requirements.
The Search by and Order results by can be changed from their default settings to the option that best suits the client.
Property Filters
Property Filters screen includes filters for either houses or flats. Any other filters which apply to the property being purchase or remortgaged can be applied within this area.
Initial Rate Type & Rate Control
The question mark on the Rate Control box provides further information on how these functions operate.
Within the Rate Control tile, there is an ERC Tolerance box. This is a very useful feature when sourcing products which may have an ERC just over the rate control period which could be a better product than one that is a couple of months shorter. An explanation on this feature, from the Help text, is shown below.
ERC Tolerance
The ERC Tolerance box defaults to two months and can be amended if necessary. The effect of this value is to exclude the ERC from the N year TAP, ERC and Cost inc Fees Inc ERC values (including the one on the Best Buy tables) if it expires within the specified number of months of the N year period.
For example, if a product has an ERC of 62 months, then, with a zero tolerance, the ERC would be included within the 5 year cost but a tolerance of 2 or more months would cause the ERC to be ignored. The reason for this is so that you don’t discount a good (say) 5 year fixed product just because the ERC lasts for (say) 62 months.
Many people would choose to keep the product for an extra 2 months in this situation. Note that the Best Buy tables use a Cost inc. Fees Inc ERC calculation and so this setting will have an effect on the Best Buys.
Add Fees to Loan
Sourcing Brain provides a feature to add fees to the loan, where allowed. This is shown within the Fees tile, as above.
This feature provides two options, either source on products that allows specific fees to be added to the loan – by selecting which ones – and/or source on products by adding the fee to the loan. This will automatically include the amounts in the calculated columns in the scheme list.
There is also a threshold box, defaulted to £100 within this section, which can be amended if wished. This ensures schemes are not excluded where they have a fee that cannot be added but the fee is small enough for that not to matter.
A full explanation of how the fees filter works is available by pressing the ‘?’ in the Fees box, as shown below.
No upfront fees
No upfront fees means no product fee, application fee, valuation fee, valuation admin fee or any other extra initial fees the lender charges. It excludes higher lending charge, funds transfer fee, deeds release and sealing fees.
Free legals
Free legal fees means legal fees which are free in all circumstances, or free if you use the lenders conveyancer. It does not include products which have a contribution towards legal fees.
Fees refunded
Fees refunded means a full refund of one or more fees on completion.
Add Fees
There are two features for adding fees:
Can be Added - allows you to search for schemes where the fees you have ticked can be added to the loan. If a scheme has no fee, or if it has a fee but the fee is less than the Include Fee Threshold, then it will be included.
Add Fee - allows you to search for schemes where the fees can be added AND also adds the fees to the loan.
Include Fee Threshold is defaulted to £100 but can be amended if wished. This will ensure schemes are not excluded where they have fees that cannot be added but the fees are small enough for this not to matter. The Include Fee Threshold determines what ‘small enough’ means, so, for example, if you have chosen to search for schemes that can have booking and application fees added to the loan then, with a fee threshold of £199, the search results may include schemes that don’t allow one or both of these fees to be added to the loan but only if the individual fee values are no more than £199. In this example, setting the Include Fee Threshold to zero will exclude all schemes which have a product or application fee that cannot be added to the loan, regardless of the size of the fee.
Product Filters
These tiles provide the ability to apply more filters to the search, making the sourcing even more accurate and ensuring it fits the client’s criteria.
Adverse Filters
Having selected the Adverse option on the Purchase Type tile, this screen allows the ability to record more specific information for the relevant search to be carried out correctly.
When sourcing for adverse products, the software takes into account the number of previous CCJs/Arrears, Defaults, Missed Payments, IVAs and/or Bankruptcies held by the client.
When sourcing for joint clients, the total number of adverse items applicable to both clients should be input.
Buy-to-Let Filters
When sourcing for buy-to-let products, the software takes into account the number of existing properties, the total value of the properties within the portfolio and the expected monthly rental income from the new property being financed.
There is also a large range of other buy to let filters available to assist in finding the right product.