Spotlight: Lisa Hodgson, Senior Sales Manager
Lisa Hodgson, Senior Sales Manager in Intermediary Lending, reflects on The Cumberland’s move into the intermediary market and what brokers should expect from The Cumberland.
How has The Cumberland’s move into the intermediary market been progressing?
The Cumberland’s intermediary journey has evolved significantly in recent years. While the Society has been active in the broker market for some time, the formation of a dedicated intermediary team for Residential, Holiday Let and Buy To Let four years ago marked a turning point. Since then, visibility has grown and distribution has widened, with tools like the residential broker portal and affordability calculator helping to modernise the experience. Brokers frequently praise the platform for being intuitive and timesaving, supporting faster case submission without compromising on the Society’s bespoke, manual underwriting ethos.
Visibility has been key. Through more sourcing system integrations and regular business development meetings both online and face to face, brokers are increasingly discovering a lender that many hadn’t previously worked with, despite our long-standing presence, particularly in holiday lets. As one broker recently told us, “We always knew you were in the background, but now we can actually see you.”
It’s a transformation that hasn’t gone unnoticed. Relationships with brokers are more collaborative than ever, with the team regularly using informal panels, direct feedback, and day-to-day case conversations to inform everything from product design to service improvements. The team itself has grown from seven to 21 strong, and the commitment to service remains constant. We offer case-by-case underwriting, direct access to decision-makers and a culture that listens to broker needs.
What should brokers expect from The Cumberland when they onboard for the first time?
Above all, brokers should expect a highly personal service. Every broker is allocated a named BDM, and backed by admin support and senior leadership who are equally accessible. There’s no call centre, no chatbots, just real people on the other end of the phone.
This accessibility underpins everything. It could be a product query, policy clarification or simply a quick sense check, but our brokers know they can get through to someone who understands the case. That responsiveness has helped forge lasting relationships, especially when dealing with more nuanced scenarios.
We continue to adapt our criteria based on broker input. One recent example is the ability to consider self-employed applicants with just one year of trading history, subject to conditions. In some cases, personal bank statements aren’t required either. These kinds of pragmatic updates give brokers the confidence to place cases that might not fit other lenders.
What has your holiday let listing on Mortgage Brain meant for brokers?
The addition of holiday let products on multiple sourcing systems has been a real step-change. Previously, brokers had to manually compare The Cumberland’s rates against the wider market, often juggling separate documents and assumptions. Now, the Society appears directly in brokers’ sourcing results, making comparisons much easier.
The change has opened doors. It’s improved visibility among existing partners and attracted enquiries from brokers who’ve never previously placed holiday let business with us, despite our 20-year track record in the sector. The result is a more diverse pipeline and stronger recognition of a product suite that was already highly competitive.
Ease of access is one benefit, but what’s really resonated with brokers is the depth of our collective understanding. The team has long supported holiday let borrowers through regulatory shifts and licensing requirements. That consistency and staying in the market when others paused or exited hasn’t gone unnoticed.
What do brokers need to know about The Cumberland’s regional lending focus and does that apply for holiday let?
Regionally, in relation to our residential owner-occupied proposition, The Cumberland continues to prioritise strong relationships across its operating area, which includes Cumbria, Lancashire, parts of North Yorkshire and Scotland. These are markets the team understands deeply. We will be considering expanding our residential proposition in time, however we are also mindful of not diluting the first-class service we offer our intermediary partners.
That said, the holiday let proposition has always been national. Whether the property is in Cornwall, Norfolk or the Welsh coast, we lend up to 75% LTV and support a range of ownership structures, including limited companies.
What makes The Cumberland’s holiday let proposition stand out?
There are plenty of features that brokers consistently highlight. We manually underwrite cases which allows us to be flexible in our approach. We lend to Limited companies without the requirement of a personal guarantee in most cases. Some of our other niche areas include up to 3 units on one title, we lend up to the oldest applicants 86th birthday and we provide lending for holiday let properties on mainland UK (including the isles of Anglesey, Arran, Isle of Wight and Isles of Mull, Skye & Harris).
Second is the Society’s support for portfolio landlords. Up to six mortgaged holiday lets can be held with The Cumberland under our intermediary proposition, with cases above that referred to the commercial team. Between the two teams, borrowers can be supported across up to 20 properties, giving room for growth and scale.
And finally, a quick but important detail, there are no application fees for product transfers. That might sound small, but it’s a meaningful cost-saving for existing borrowers looking to stay with the lender and reflects our broader approach to fairness and long-term relationships.
Find out more about The Cumberland Building Society’s holiday let mortgages.