Mortgage Advisor Advice Please

[Lofty]

Hi all

Are there any mortgage advisors on here?

I am currently planning a change in career, and with a genuine interest in the property market, I am looking at potentially becoming a mortgage advisor.

I know I will need to become CeMAP qualified with 1, 2 & 3 but I am thinking of the most efficient way of doing these.

I am happy to self-fund, but my query is if any of the CeMAP qualifications (Mainly level 3) require any type of on-site assessments meaning I'd have to be employed by a company whilst I am doing my papers as I seen somewhere you need to get "signed off" not sure hoe accurate that is?

Or is it possible once completed 1, 2 and 3 you can immediately become registered with the FSA and become self-employed? (Would ideally do that than go employed route.

I currently work in Finance, have bought and sold 3 houses myself (doing my own mortgage product) so I am fairly confident it'll be something that comes relatively natural to me and I'll enjoy doing.

Also anything else I am not mentioning that I will need to take on-board?

Thank you for your time!

 

[WaveJumper]

Mortgage adviser | Explore careers | National Careers Service

Mortgage advisers help people find, and apply for mortgages.

nationalcareers.service.gov.uk

Apply to become a mortgage broker

If you want to engage in regulated activities as a mortgage broker, you need to be authorised by us. Find out how to apply for authorisation.

www.fca.org.uk

 

[tony84]

Cemap is just multiple choice - 2 and 3 are fairly straight forward, 1 is quite difficult but more because it is dull. You just go to a test centre and do them on a computer.

You cant just pass your exam and set up your own business. As it is regulated you need to get Competent adviser status (CAS), that is where you do x number of cases within another firm, those cases need to be done to an acceptable level. It means doing the research, making the application, getting it offered and then more importantly ensuring the file is up to scratch. Your cases will be graded and once you have done enough cases at a good enough level you get CAS.

At that point you probably still wont be able to set up on your own as its quite difficult for you to go to the FCA (not FSA) and say they can trust you to run your own business when you have done maybe 10 mortgages. You probably need about 12-24 months experience under your belt. You could set up under a network as an AR but they are quite big on experience, CAS and evidence of how you will write enough business. In effect they want you to be writing maybe £35-40k a year from scratch.

Also, I am not trying to make our job sound like brain surgery (it isnt) but when you say you have arranged 3 mortgages for yourself - did that just involve going on compare the market or something and choosing a product? Because if thats what it was - thats not really the job of a mortgage broker. Any idiot (and I am not calling you an idiot btw) can find the cheapest product.

What happens when:
You get an applicant who has only been in their job a month?
What about if they are a contractor? Fixed term, day rate...
What about self employed, maybe with a loss or only one years books?
Bad credit? A default, multiple defaults, CCJs, Bankruptcy, DMP, IVA? How long ago, how many, who to?
Benefits? Which benefits will a lender accept and to what extent? Some will take 100%, some will take 50%, some 0% some will only take them if children are under a certain age (which differs from company to company),
What about if one of the applicants is European or American?
Then you also have the lenders where you did your research, everything fits and yet it still gets declined - credit score, underwriters discretions - thats something you pick up with experience but does take time.

(That covers a lot of what I have on my desk at the minute but definitely not everything - my favourite was the Nigerian lottery winner - sounds like one of those dodgy emails, but was actually legit. We had to get a lot of documentation for that to satisfy the lender and compliance).

After 10 years doing this job, I do not really get many applications where it is just a case of finding the cheapest. I actually cant remember the last time that actually happened.

I am honestly not trying to put you off the job. I love my job, after 10-11 years, I still get that buzz when I get to tell first time buyers we have their mortgage offer. But I just want you to go into with your eyes open as there is a steep learning curve and a LOT to learn.