Becoming a Mortgage Broker Advice Wanted

[SamanthaL]

Hello Everyone!
I'm hoping that some of new will be kind enough to give me the benefit of your experience. I am considering a career change and possibly training to become a Mortgage Broker. I would really be grateful to hear about good training providers, whether it's realistic to aim to go alone as soon as I qualify and if not suggestions as to how I might get my foot in the door, and anything else that might be useful to know?

 

[Gordon - Commercial Finance]

Try getting a job as a mortgage broker first and risk someone else’s money while you learn the business.

 

[tony84]

It seems that a lot of people are looking to switch careers to a mortgage broker at the minute.

The easy part of getting into this industry is the exams. You are in control of that.
The next stage is the first hard part... Getting in somewhere and earning Competent advisor status (CAS). You can only get CAS by being signed off as competent from someone who is in a position to sign people off. The difficultly is finding somewhere where you can earn CAS.

This is a regulated industry, there is so much box ticking, compliance and ass covering to do before you even submit a case and then more after.

Things are pretty rosy at the minute, but there is an expectation we are in for a bumpy 12 months so you may not find many firms taking people on at the minute. Getting CAS takes around 6-12 months.

You cant just go it alone, you need to pass the exams, get CAS and also get experience. Trust me when I say, you wont be able to go it alone for at least 12 months and you will still be learning 2-3 years down the line.

Then you have to worry about finding customers (the second hard part).

 

[SamanthaL]

It seems that a lot of people are looking to switch careers to a mortgage broker at the minute.

The easy part of getting into this industry is the exams. You are in control of that.
The next stage is the first hard part... Getting in somewhere and earning Competent advisor status (CAS). You can only get CAS by being signed off as competent from someone who is in a position to sign people off. The difficultly is finding somewhere where you can earn CAS.

This is a regulated industry, there is so much box ticking, compliance and ass covering to do before you even submit a case and then more after.

Things are pretty rosy at the minute, but there is an expectation we are in for a bumpy 12 months so you may not find many firms taking people on at the minute. Getting CAS takes around 6-12 months.

You cant just go it alone, you need to pass the exams, get CAS and also get experience. Trust me when I say, you wont be able to go it alone for at least 12 months and you will still be learning 2-3 years down the line.

Then you have to worry about finding customers (the second hard part).

Thank you Tony for taking the time to reply. I appreciate it.

 

[forevergroup]

I was talking to a mortgage broker on our customer base the other day and they were talking about the qualification they put people through which is CEMAP. That may be a good place to start.

Certainly from their perspective, the idea of taking on unqualified staff and taking them through the organisation from admin through to mortgage advisor status is attractive, as it's cheaper and that person will be closer aligned to their own internal processes.

As others have suggested, joining an existing broker to learn the ropes is going to be a much more viable path than suddenly turning 'solo' mortgage broker. Otherwise you're going actually be tackling two problems at the same time!

(Becoming a capable, qualified Mortgage Advisor and starting an approved/accredited business as a Mortgage Broker - these two things may seem the same but they are not.)

 

[Frank the Insurance guy]

I would suggest you also look at joining a Mortgage Network as an Appointed Representative. An advantage of this is that you will not need to be directly authorised as the Network will do this for you. The network will be responsible for compliance etc, and usually provide a considerable amount of back office support. Obviously there is a cost, but with a Network behind you, it enables you to concentrate on the client side of things - building the business and getting income, whilst being supported by the network.

 

[tony84]

I have been under 2 networks and neither gave back office support. They just gave you a compliance process to follow and took a percentage of your income to cover the cost of checking that, PII and FCA costs, everything else with running a business was down to me.

 

[hurokjj]

It seems that a lot of people are looking to switch careers to a mortgage broker at the minute.

The easy part of getting into this industry is the exams. You are in control of that.
The next stage is the first hard part... Getting in somewhere and earning Competent advisor status (CAS). You can only get CAS by being signed off as competent from someone who is in a position to sign people off. The difficultly is finding somewhere where you can earn CAS.

This is a regulated industry, there is so much box ticking, compliance and ass covering to do before you even submit a case and then more after.

Things are pretty rosy at the minute, but there is an expectation we are in for a bumpy 12 months so you may not find many firms taking people on at the minute. Getting CAS takes around 6-12 months.

You cant just go it alone, you need to pass the exams, get CAS and also get experience. Trust me when I say, you wont be able to go it alone for at least 12 months and you will still be learning 2-3 years down the line.

Then you have to worry about finding customers (the second hard part).

Can anyone recommend a reputable mortgage broker? Thank you!!

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Can anyone recommend a reputable mortgage broker? Thank you!!

@tony84 He is the one that I would talk to
I hope you are a high value client as I am very particular who I recommend to approach professionals that I know ?

 

[MBE2017]

@tony84 He is the one that I would talk to
I hope you are a high value client as I am very particular who I recommend to approach professionals that I know ?

So why are you putting my tel number up in motorway toilets?

 

[HFE Signs]

Can anyone recommend a reputable mortgage broker? Thank you!!

Do they exist! In my experience they offer up the deals where they get the most commission - surprising what they can find when you say your brother in law is a broker and has a better deal Would I recommend my brother in law as a broker... Nope!

 

[tony84]

Do they exist! In my experience they offer up the deals where they get the most commission - surprising what they can find when you say your brother in law is a broker and has a better deal Would I recommend my brother in law as a broker... Nope!

Rubbish.

If I did a £300k mortgage, I would receive:
£990 with Barclays
£1,020 with Halifax
£990 with Nationwide
£960 with Natwest
£960 with Santander.

My average mortgage is less than £300k.

With a difference of £60 although very likely less than that, do you really think any broker would risk a complaint? Of those lenders, I have used Natwest the most.

If a broker knows the commission rates for the lenders, they are not doing enough business. I have just had to go and check what I would receive as I work on the assumption they all pay around 0.3% (ie £300 for every £100k).

On a side note, customers can ask for the rates of commission we receive from all lenders and we have to provide it.

 

[Gordon - Commercial Finance]

Rubbish.

If I did a £300k mortgage, I would receive:
£990 with Barclays
£1,020 with Halifax
£990 with Nationwide
£960 with Natwest
£960 with Santander.

My average mortgage is less than £300k.

With a difference of £60 although very likely less than that, do you really think any broker would risk a complaint? Of those lenders, I have used Natwest the most.

If a broker knows the commission rates for the lenders, they are not doing enough business. I have just had to go and check what I would receive as I work on the assumption they all pay around 0.3% (ie £300 for every £100k).

On a side note, customers can ask for the rates of commission we receive from all lenders and we have to provide it.

Not only risking a complaint but risking revocation of permissions which would spell the end of trading....
It irks me that brokers of all sorts have this largely unearned reputation of putting commission before all other things! Funny the number of times I've had conversations over the last year or so while rates have been higher, and get the impression people are assuming that high rates means I'm rubbing my hands together and flicking through the Rolex catalogue.

 

[MBE2017]

I can only comment for myself. I use three guys at present, all worth their weight in gold IMO. One of my guys was really useful and will be responsible for helping make a new project very profitable from a bit of advice given. I am always on the lookout for new brokers, and found another good one just last night.

There are good brokers out there, ask around, personal recommendation is a great place to start, a specialist in a particular field is always worth talking to, and as in all professions there are a small number of bad ones.

 

[Mark T Jones]

I'm rubbing my hands together and flicking through the Rolex catalogue.

I'd assume you don't need a catalogue any more - you know it off by heart?

 

[m4hmo]

I casually looked into this to be a broker for my parents mortgages. There are 2 types, one with the fancy qualification, and the other which is more like a lead generator i guess.

Anyway it involved about 6 months experience, which I don't have time for.

Gordon - tell us what we need to do to be a broker !