Amidst a cost of living crisis and rising interest rates, consumers faced challenges in navigating the mortgage market. Between 2022 and 2023, as part of the Podium Solutions team, we provided services to MoneySavingExpert’s users, equipping them with a comprehensive understanding of their financial options.
Due to a cost of living crisis and surging interest rates, consumers were struggling to keep up with the financial challenges in the mortgage market. Between 2022 and 2023, as part of the team at Podium Solutions, we helped deliver services to MoneySavingExpert’s users to empower them with an understanding of their financial options.
Affordability Calculator
To help consumers either looking to purchase their first home or move to another, we first created a form-based calculator that helped them better understand how much they could borrow.
Product Transfer Journey
Next, to aid consumers in remortgaging decisions, we developed a new, streamlined journey. It allows them to easily explore products from their current lender, while providing concise guidance on key considerations on whether to remortgage with them or to switch to a new lender.
Current Lender Filter
As an improvement to the product transfer journey, we introduced a filter enabling users to seamlessly switch between their current lender's products and a comprehensive view of mortgages from the entire market.
To help consumers either looking to purchase their first home or move to another, we first created a form-based calculator that helped them better understand how much they could borrow.
This project involved the creation of a mortgage affordability calculator for MoneySavingExpert, which was then integrated into the Best Buys product tables for first-time buyers and homemovers.
The calculator provides users with an estimate of how much they can borrow for a mortgage. It also encourages users to seek a formal answer from a lender and consider consulting a broker for personalised advice.
For easy access, a static entry point was positioned above the filters on the product table. This led to a question set where all necessary information could be provided for a quick assessment of an estimated borrowing amount, followed by a display of results showcasing mortgages that fit the criteria.
Once on the results page, the original entry point to the journey played back the user’s results and allowed them to edit their answers.
Next, to aid consumers in remortgaging decisions, we developed a new, streamlined journey. It allows them to easily explore products from their current lender, while providing concise guidance on key considerations on whether to remortgage with them or to switch to a new lender.
The unprecedented mortgage market conditions that continued into 2023 raised the opportunity to add a new user journey focused on retention products, which were not shown on MoneySavingExpert’s Best Buy table at the time.
Our method was to rapidly prototype a working journey and showcase it to the the team at MoneySavingExpert, so we could either quickly get it into service or iterate from that point with their input.
We based this on the previous pattern we used for their mortgage affordability calculator, using the same entry point and interface behaviour.
The difference lay in this new journey being visible for remortgaging users and retention products being displayed differently, with a small tag on the product card indicating product transfer benefits. This tag opens up an overlay concisely summarising the main takeaways so that users can consider and choose the best option for them.
As an improvement to the product transfer journey, we introduced a filter enabling users to seamlessly switch between their current lender's products and a comprehensive view of mortgages from the entire market.
At the launch of MoneySavingExpert’s Product Transfer feature, we considered a future enhancement in the form of an integrated current lender filter, which followed shortly after rolling out the main journey.
We recognised that it would not be very obvious for many users what value exchange they gained from filling out the discovery form because their existing lender products were still buried in the results.
Adding a prominent filter control allowed them to view only products from their current lender to help them compare options from their existing lender with all lender products.
Though we had built a similar feature on MoneySuperMarket not long before, MoneySavingExpert did not want their filter to be positioned the same way, located above the product results.
Seeking a simple and elegant solution that fit their platform’s structure, we placed this additional filter on the left side panel alongside all other user controls to allow for a uniform design across the page.
As this followed the same pattern as the journey for first-time buyers and homemovers, they would easily understand the interface later on as returning users.
We delivered three services to enhance the mortgage experience: an Affordability Calculator aiding in borrowing understanding, a streamlined Product Transfer Journey for remortgaging decisions, and a Current Lender Filter for seamless product comparison.
To help consumers either looking to purchase their first home or move to another, we first created a form-based calculator that helped them better understand how much they could borrow.
Next, to aid consumers in remortgaging decisions, we developed a new, streamlined journey. It allows them to easily explore products from their current lender, while providing concise guidance on key considerations on whether to remortgage with them or to switch to a new lender.
As an improvement to the product transfer journey, we introduced a filter enabling users to seamlessly switch between their current lender's products and a comprehensive view of mortgages from the entire market.
