Exclusive: Starling mortgages are coming, bank survey reveals

“If Starling were to launch a mortgage product would that be of interest?”

Starling Bank is actively developing a mortgage product that it will offer directly to its retail customers, the bank let slip in a customer survey yesterday seen by AltFi.

In an email to certain customers Starling asked for feedback on “new products and services we are looking to offer”, with a survey attached that contained five questions all about mortgages.

One of the questions specifically asked for the respondent’s interest “if Starling were to launch a mortgage product”, while other questions assessed what factors customers’ use to decide on a mortgage and where they would shop if looking to remortgage.

Starling has quickly built a £2bn+ portfolio of specialist mortgages via its acquisitions of buy-to-let lender Fleet Mortgages in 2021 and buying up a book of mortgages from Masthaven in 2022.

However, the bank has yet to offer its own retail mortgages, despite having a base of over 3 million customer accounts, many of whom would likely consider the bank’s offering.

News that Starling is looking to offer mortgages isn’t a surprise, but this is the first time the bank has confirmed it is being actively worked on.

CEO Anne Boden has previously told AltFi that Starling one day offering its own mortgages was “inevitable”, but cautioned that given the bank's prime customer base any offering “has to be superb”.

Sadly none of the questions in yesterday’s survey tipped whether Starling is working on a specific feature or offering that would make it stand out in the UK’s highly competitive property lending market.

Starling Bank told AltFi that the survey was "part of our regular engagement with customers about potential products and features".