How AI can help Building Societies meet Consumer Duty plain language standards

Building Societies rightly pride themselves on member experience and service quality. Yet many mortgage administration teams still struggle to deliver written communications that are clear and widely accessible.

Much of the information needing to be conveyed—arrears processes, regulatory disclosures, and tax details—is inherently complex, which helps explain why these communications so often end up long, densely worded, and full of financial jargon. While many Building Societies have already invested significant effort in improving their communications in line with the FCA’s Consumer Duty standard, there is always more to be done.

This is especially important given the UK context where 44% of adults have low levels of financial literacy and nearly half fall below the literacy level required for everyday tasks. Added to this is the country’s growing linguistic diversity, where English is not always the first language.

These challenges become most acute in high-stakes situations such as arrears, where a misunderstanding can prevent members from recognising the options available to them, or from taking the steps needed to keep their homes.

Complex communications can also impact Building Societies’ bottom line. Research demonstrates that members who don’t understand their letters or statements are more likely to phone the call centre for help, driving up servicing costs.

Consumer Duty, which came into effect in 2023, seeks to address the issue of unclear financial communications head-on. It requires all financial services firms in the UK to “support and enable consumers to make informed decisions about financial products and services.” The Standard is explicit: firms must use “plain and intelligible language” in their member communications and provide concrete evidence that members genuinely understand what is being communicated to them.

What exactly is plain language?

While Consumer Duty does not define what “plain language” is, nor provide guidelines for financial institutions to follow, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), provides specific principles in its plain language standard (ISO 24495-1). Developed through global consensus, drawing on academic research and the expertise of technical writers, linguists, and communication specialists, the standard offers a structured framework organizations can adopt to make their communications accessible to the broadest range of readers.

The ISO Standard recommends using familiar terms instead of jargon, shorter sentences, and the active voice as much as possible.

For example, instead of writing: “Your account is in arrears and as a result we may be required to initiate possession proceedings unless prompt repayment is received in the next 30 days”.  A plain language alternative would be: “You’ve missed payments on your mortgage. You must make a payment in the next 30 days or we may take legal steps to repossess your home.”

The ISO guidelines also provide clear direction on structure: put the most important information first, break text into short paragraphs, and use clear headings to guide the reader through longer or more complex documents.

How AI makes plain language practical at scale

Applying plain language principles across every member communication is a daunting task. Manually rewriting each letter, statement, and disclosure would demand more time and resources than most Building Societies can spare.

Fortunately, much of this work can now be automated with AI. Generative AI models are now capable of scanning entire communication libraries, identifying unclear content, and recommending rewrites aligned with plain language principles – automating what would once have taken weeks or even months to complete by hand.

AI can also help enforce standards proactively, analysing new content as it is authored and suggesting improvements before it is published. This enables Building Societies to move beyond ad-hoc content clean-up efforts and maintain plain language standards over the long term. Just as critically, every communication can be scored against a readability benchmark, creating proof that the regulators expect under Consumer Duty.

Balancing speed with security when implementing AI

While AI presents a path to automating plain language adoption, how Building Societies choose to implement it matters enormously. Some teams may already be experimenting with general-purpose tools such as ChatGPT, but these are risky when applied to sensitive, regulated mortgage communications.

Getting reliable results from these general-purpose AI tools is far from straightforward. To produce a rewrite that meets the many requirements of plain language writing, while also preserving the precise legal and financial meaning of the original text, requires careful guidance. If authors lack this expertise, they will often spend more time iterating prompts than it would take to rewrite the content manually.

Far more concerning, however, is the risk of exposing sensitive member or organisational data by copying content into public AI platforms. Without the right controls and guardrails in place, pushing regulated communications outside secure systems is both a compliance and a data protection liability.

The safer, more effective path Building Societies can take is to leverage AI within a secure member communications management platform. These systems enable mortgage teams to harness generative AI from the same secure environment where their content is already authored, approved, and governed. By working this way, Building Societies retain full control of their communications while benefiting from the speed and efficiency of AI. Many platforms also provide pre-built prompts designed specifically for plain language optimisation. This removes the guesswork of prompt design and ensures that rewrites consistently align with internal writing and brand standards.

Plain language pays off for everyone

By embedding plain language principles across their communications, Building Societies strengthen both compliance and member trust. Members who clearly understand their mortgage options take action with confidence. Call centre traffic and associated costs fall when communications answer questions instead of creating them. And, perhaps most importantly, societies demonstrate their commitment to accessibility in accordance with Consumer Duty.

Originally published on BSA.org.uk