Damaging impact of mortgage applications as 38% wish they'd rented for longer
Half of people that have applied for a mortgage reveal the feeling they most associate with the mortgage application process is anxiety (46%).
More than one in ten (13%) people that have applied for a mortgage would rather be stuck in a lift for 12 hours straight than go through the process again.
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Hide AdAlthough all age groups had some level of stress regarding the application process, there is a stark generational divide. Nearly three times as many Gen Zs (28%) found the mortgage application process significantly more stressful than moving house than Baby Boomers (11%).

This is creating feelings of regret, with 38% of homeowning 24–35-year-olds wishing they had chosen to rent for longer instead of going through the mortgage application process.
A quarter of 25–34-year-olds surveyed admit to comfort eating due to stress triggered by their mortgage applications, while a further 26% started forgetting things they would normally remember, such as food shopping or texting a friend on their birthday.
People also confess to crying more, including at work, and drinking more alcohol due to stress triggered by the application process.
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Hide AdInterestingly, people that applied for a mortgage with a partner or spouse are more likely to relate the application process with stress (51%) than those who applied on their own (45%), or with their friends (44%).
Three in ten people (30%) said a better understanding of the process beforehand would have relieved stress during the mortgage application process, as well as fewer delays in the process (37%) and less paperwork (36%).
Jerry Mulle, UK Managing Director at Ohpen, says: “These findings are a damning indictment of the inefficient mortgage application processes delivered by banks’ archaic legacy systems. Hundreds of thousands of Brits apply for a mortgage every year, and so the total impact on mental health and wellbeing, consumer spending and productivity is significant. The generational gap in the impact of mortgage applications on wellbeing and consumer spending makes it clear that banks’ processes have not modernised – what was cutting edge 40 years ago is no longer fit for purpose.
“We need to see a coordinated effort to make the process more transparent and inclusive from the outset, and speed up the application process by taking complex legacy technology out of the equation and enabling better real-time data sharing between all the stakeholders involved in the home-buying journey.”