American digital homeownership platform Better plans to acquire London-based online mortgage broker Trussle.
Founded in 2015, Trussle provides independent advice to customers who are looking to buy a home or refinance an existing mortgage.
The company assesses customer suitability, provides advice on mortgage and protection products and interacts with over 90 lenders to close mortgages for UK homeowners.
Since inception, Trussle has sourced over £2.7 billion of mortgage approvals for UK consumers with £1.1bn of that in the last 12 months.
“Better eliminates the high financing costs, massive transactional friction, tyranny and mind-numbing bureaucracy that comes with getting a mortgage and buying a home in the UK via a high street bank,” said Vishal Garg, founder and CEO of Better.
“We researched the UK market and were surprised to see how we could make it so much better for consumers buying and financing a home for the first time.
“We found a kindred spirit in the team at Trussle who have developed a platform that we can work alongside to help every Briton own their own home. Making homeownership affordable and accessible for all customers is a key tenet of a well-functioning credit system and we are here to help grow Trussle and make it even better.”
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Trussle captures critical data on customer demand, lender pricing and risk eligibility matrices which Better says will provide valuable insights when analysed using its own technology.
Better also says it will enhance Trussle’s revenue profile by developing a pipeline of B2B relationships with estate agencies, property developers and financial services companies, investing in customer acquisition and driving attachment rates across product offerings, including insurance and conveyancing.
Ian Larkin and the existing management team will continue to lead Trussle following the acquisition, the terms of which were not disclosed.
“It is 27 years since the World Wide Web was launched and most consumer industries have embraced it by now, but the UK mortgage market is still characterised by analogue systems and processes,” said CEO Larkin.
“This market should not require consumers to apply for a mortgage five months before the end of the Stamp Duty holiday.
“We are very excited about becoming part of Better, and we are confident that Trussle’s future looks brighter than ever as part of a large and growing international organisation that shares our commitment to making homeownership more simple, fair and accessible for all.”