New portal bids to cut fall-throughs by offering ‘mortgage passport’

The new portal OneDome is offering what it calls a “consumer-facing digital mortgage product” in a bid to cut fall-throughs.

OneDome already has a partnership with the Mortgage Advice Bureau and says its mortgage passport is a way of buyers indicating to vendors and selling agents how far they have progressed in securing a mortgage for their prospective purchase.

The product provides three levels of response: a basic verification of affordability, followed by an agreement in principle, and then a final mortgage recommendation after through application process has been exhausted. 

The aim is that every time an agent receives a viewing lead from OneDome, he or she will be able to see how ‘mortgage-ready’ the buyer actually is.

OneDome launched as a portal last month and has an unusual business model, aiming to pay agents who use it in the form of free listings and a slice of the income achieved from the sale of ancillary services advertised on property listings.

Now OneDome says that as a result of completing their Mortgage Passport, consumers can demonstrate both to estate agents and vendors that they are serious and may be better-placed to advance a purchase than other buyers. 

While available as an online tool, buyers also have the option to speak directly with a mortgage advisor and can complete the application over the phone or in person. 

Agents working with OneDome's platform will be paid what it calls “a market standard fee per successful transaction within the platform without the need to refer the customer or sell them a mortgage.” 

OneDome founder and chief executive Babek Ismayil says: “Over 35 per cent of property transactions fail in the UK. Based on our analysis, a third of those transactions fail due to problems surrounding securing a mortgage. This results in broken chains, vendors stressing out and sometimes blaming agents, estate agents wasting lots of their time and losing money on unfinished transactions."