EXCLUSIVE: Norton adopts digital document process for second charge

Norton will continue to issue secured loan binding offers, along with legal charge and supporting documentation, to the customer by post.

When the binding offer has been issued, Freedom Finance can use the NIVO secure mobile technology (SMT) to upload a digital version of the legal charge document, binding offer and supporting documentation to have them passported through to their customer using a mobile App.

The customer and witness can then wet-sign the documents, take a photo of the signed paperwork and upload the documents on to the NIVO SMT mobile app.

The documents will then be passported through to Norton who will then complete the secured loan and register the charge in the normal way with the Land Registry.

Stephen Lawrence, group national sales manager at Norton, commented: "The NIVO process meets the new requirements announced by HM Land Registry on the 4th May 2020. It will definitely speed up the completion process as often the legal charge document is incorrectly completed by either the customer, witness or both. It will be a simple process using NIVO SMT for Freedom Finance to resend the legal charge document to their customer and have it completed correctly."

Josh Bowe, head of digital operations at Freedom Finance, added: "We are proud to partner with Norton as we take advantage of the digital transformation opportunities that have arisen due to the environment we now operate within. Norton and Freedom Finance have built a strong and impressive relationship together, so this initiative further enhances the partnership whilst offering customers a faster and more convenient way to find the finance they require. We firmly believe that this HMRC announcement is one of the first big steps towards automating and improving the second charge mortgage process."