Just as an artisan woodworker shapes and carves a piece of furniture, creating something uniquely moulded to fit the home it will live in, at Hodge we carefully craft each mortgage to fit the client, giving them the right blend of stability and creativity to suit their life.
Carefully Crafted Mortgages
Learn about Hodge's 'carefully crafted mortgages' and earn CPD points
National account manager James Enos sits down with head of mortgage origination Rob Ford and business development manager Nurlana Kerimli to discuss how Hodge craft their mortgages around customers' needs. The conversation brings together both sales and underwriting perspectives, and explores how they work closely with brokers to find solutions for clients.
“Hand-carving the right mortgages” – James Enos
I sat down with Rob Ford and Nurlana Kerimli, and one thing stood out immediately: the importance of conversation.
When cases come through to our BDMs, we don’t rely on a tick-box application process to give an answer. We rely on expertise, communication, listening and understanding.
We take cases away and really look at them, understanding the detail and nuances and when we need to flex. Our initial response will always be to say yes wherever we can. We approach each case with that mindset, looking for ways to turn that ‘yes’ into reality, grounded in sound and sensible data and a real understanding of the customer’s world.
We’re trying to hand-carve the right mortgage. If your clients are looking for a Swedish flatpack, we aren’t that.
“Open communication and open minds” – Rob Ford
Perhaps the most compelling part of our offering is our open-mindedness. Brokers know even if a case isn’t an automatic yes, it isn’t automatically a no.
Rob explained it well:
“The more we know up front, the clearer everything becomes. It helps us understand the ins and out of a case and the complexities within it.”
This insight makes the underwriting process more accurate, more seamless and builds broker confidence in every decision we make.
“You can have the slickest systems in the world, but if you don’t have people who really understand not only the proposition being presented, but also how the wider world looks, you lose the human element… Our underwriters get under the skin of the case, and that’s where the expertise comes in.”
As Nurlana described:
“Sometimes it’s about taking a case away, understanding it in more depth and seeing whether there’s a solution. That builds confidence, because brokers know we’re not just applying rigid rules, we’re trying to understand the customer so we can find a path forward.”
“Flexibility is our philosophy”– James
Modern borrowing is rarely ‘vanilla’. Customers have blended income streams, non-traditional employment structures, professions that didn’t exist on paper a decade ago. At Hodge, flexibility is not about bending rules, it’s about having a philosophy that looks at cases holistically.
Rob highlighted a range of situations we encounter:
“We can look at barristers with complex income structures, dentists with private and NHS earnings, even social media influencers whose earnings are on an upward trajectory.”
By working closely with brokers, BDMs and underwriters, we build a full picture of each case.
As Nurlana added:
“We can see how different elements work together and present where the real strengths of a case are.”
“The world doesn’t stand still and neither can we”– Nurlana Kerimli
The open-mindedness at Hodge isn’t just about individual cases. It feeds directly back into how we evolve our policies and criteria. Cases which fall outside current guidelines but are approved, help shape future criteria changes, ensuring our decisions continue to follow the same grain as the market.
As we evolve, we want brokers to stay effortlessly by our side. Our aim is to make complex cases feel simple, by being the trusted lender they can turn to. A lender that’s comfortable with complexity and has the experience they’re looking for.
“It’s the human touch that makes the difference”– Rob
Nurlana and the BDM team attended more than 80 events across the UK in 2025. That’s no small feat for a small (but perfectly formed) lender. These events matter to us because early conversations and face-to-face engagement puts us in rooms with brokers and lenders who are collaboratively working to find the right outcomes for customers.
Nurlana sums it up perfectly:
“It’s one thing being able to pick up the phone, having meetings over Teams, they’re great, but they don’t replace that face-to-face experience. When you’re in that environment, you’ve got criteria and ideas bouncing around, and you can just sit down and ask questions. That’s really effective.”
“Carefully crafted, seamlessly delivered” – Nurlana
Every Hodge mortgage is designed with care. Solid features with soft edges. From the first conversation to final approval, our teams work closely with brokers to understand the customer behind the case. Flexible, open, collaborative, all words that carry weight for us, both today and in forming our tomorrow.
If you’ve worked with us, you already know. If you haven’t, we’d love to build something new with you.
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