The problem
A mortgage illustration, or European Standardised Information Sheet, is a legally required document that is supposed to help clients understand the mortgage they are being offered. In practice, most clients find them impenetrable. The documents are dense, heavily formatted, full of abbreviations, and written to satisfy regulatory requirements rather than to actually communicate with a human being. Clients receive them, feel vaguely intimidated, and either sign without reading or spend the next hour on the phone to their broker asking what various sections mean.
This creates a recurring time cost for brokers. Explaining the same sections of an illustration repeatedly across multiple clients every week adds up quickly. It also creates a risk: if a client does not understand the illustration, they are not giving genuinely informed consent to the product, which is precisely what the illustration was designed to ensure. A brief, plain-English summary that accompanies the illustration serves both the client's understanding and the broker's compliance position.
The challenge is that every illustration is slightly different, and the key points that matter most vary by client situation. A first-time buyer needs a different emphasis than a remortgaging client who has had multiple products before. An interest-only investor has different questions than an owner-occupier on a repayment basis. Making these summaries genuinely useful requires some personalisation, which historically made them too time-consuming to produce for every case.
The system
Step 1: Extract the key figures and terms (Claude)
Copy the relevant figures from the illustration into Claude and ask it to identify the most important numbers a client needs to understand. This works best when you give Claude clear instructions about what to extract.
Prompt example: "I am going to paste the key details from a mortgage illustration. Please extract and summarise the following in plain English: the initial monthly payment and how long this rate lasts, the monthly payment after the initial period reverts to the standard variable rate, the total amount payable over the full term, the overall cost for comparison (APRC), any early repayment charges and when they apply, any product fees and whether they have been added to the loan, and any other charges or conditions worth highlighting. Here are the details: [paste illustration key figures]"
Review the extracted summary for accuracy. Check that every number matches the original illustration before it goes anywhere near the client.
Step 2: Produce a plain-English client summary (Claude)
Once you have verified the key figures, ask Claude to write the full client-facing summary. Tailor the prompt to the client type.
Prompt example for a first-time buyer: "Please write a plain-English summary of this mortgage illustration for a first-time buyer who has never had a mortgage before. Explain what each key figure means in practical terms. For example, explain what the APRC is and why it matters, explain what happens when the initial rate ends, explain what an early repayment charge means and when they would encounter it. The tone should be warm and clear, not intimidating. UK English throughout. Keep the summary to one page."
Prompt example for a remortgage client: "Please write a plain-English summary comparing this new mortgage illustration with the client's existing mortgage. Their current rate is [X]%, current monthly payment is £[Y], and their current deal ends on [date]. Highlight the key differences, what they will save or pay more during the initial period, and what they need to consider before committing."
Step 3: Add a comparison across multiple illustrations (Claude)
When presenting options to a client, use Claude to produce a side-by-side comparison that makes the choice clear.
Prompt example: "I have three mortgage illustrations for the same client. Please create a comparison table showing: lender name, initial rate, initial monthly payment, revert rate, monthly payment after revert, total cost over 5 years (assuming they remortgage after the initial period), product fee, early repayment charges, and any significant differences in terms or conditions. Highlight which option is cheapest in the short term, which is cheapest over a 5-year horizon, and any trade-offs the client should consider. [Paste details for each illustration]"
Step 4: Template the summaries in Notion (Notion AI)
Build a Notion template for illustration summaries so the format is consistent across all your cases. Use Notion AI to refine the template language and ensure it is always compliant and current.
Prompt example: "Please help me create a reusable template for a mortgage illustration summary. It should have placeholder fields for the key figures, a standard explanation section for the APRC, early repayment charges, and product fees, and a sign-off section confirming the client has read and understood the summary. Keep the language clear and professional."
The results
Before: Brokers either sent illustrations without explanation or spent 10 to 15 minutes per case on the phone walking clients through the key points. Across a week with 10 to 15 active cases, this added up to one to two hours of reactive explanation time, plus occasional longer calls with confused clients.
After: Every client receives a plain-English summary alongside their illustration as standard, produced in three to five minutes per case. Client questions about the illustration have reduced significantly. One broker noted that several clients specifically commented that the summary was "the most useful thing anyone had ever sent them about a mortgage" and that it contributed directly to the broker's referral rate. The compliance benefit of a documented, plain-English explanation is equally valuable.