EDS and Westpac are catching up on the backlog in processing mortgage applications at the processing centre at Lockleys in Adelaide.The turnaround time is still more than two weeks to assess loans, though the bank expects to cut the wait time to nine days for loans submitted from next week. Processing times to assess loan applications had blown out to six weeks during early December.The chronic delays affect a majority of Westpac loan introducers but relate to a minority of new business. Loans introduced by a select number of brokers (such as major aggregator groups) and the bank's own branch network receive priority and in theory the Lockleys centre is processing those loan applications within three days. EDS operates the Lockleys centre, which Westpac developed in the mid 1990s, for Westpac .The bank, or EDS, hired 60 new staff over recent weeks to tackle delays that were as long as six weeks for loans submitted before Christmas. Many of these hires may be temporary and casual staff.Advice from the bank's business development managers to mortgage brokers contends that it is the bank's more accommodating position on credit assessment that is the cause of the backlog.While ANZ and National have adopted more conservative lending criteria, Westpac has declined to follow.Westpac, which is willing to lend at higher loan to valuation ratios (of up to 97 per cent) on full doc loans; continues to offer low doc loans at LVRs of up to 82 per cent (including with business activity statements); and remains prepared to waive the requirement for genuine savings, is generating above-average levels of new business for the bank.Application numbers reached "record highs", according to one circular to brokers this week.