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Is the Certified Practitioner in Specialist Property Finance a good idea?

Journalist: Jake Carter, Mortgage Introducer

ended 10. August 2023

The Certified Practitioner in Specialist Property Finance (CPSP) programme has been designed to provide a definitive and targeted education option for those operating within the specialist lending sector.

Do you think the Certified Practitioner in Specialist Property Finance is a good idea?

Is this something you have, or would, consider signing up to?

3 responses from the Newspage community

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Bob Singh
Founder at Chess Mortgages
It’s a great idea to add another qualification to your cap and enhance one’s technical knowledge.

Networks will love this as a controlling measure to keep their AR’s in check and not to advise or arrange specialist mortgage funding without a proper grounding at least in the subject.

Also great for PI insurers to know that only qualified advisers can transact business.

An ideal syllabus would be

Ltd Co BTL
Bridging
Development
Commercial Finance
Investment Property Finance
Business Finance
Trade Finance


CeMAP 1,2,3 are elementary examinations and if the whole industry is to skill-up then the option to study further should be there

The Advanced CeMAP already covers some of the subject matter and could be further enhanced by adding these further modules





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Graham Cox
Director at Bridging Hub
I'm currently studying to sit the CPSP exam in early October. The programme is well worth the investment. Specialist finance is often very complex and tailored to the client's specific circumstances, so a lack of formal training in the sector has stymied competition. Hopefully CPSP will go a long way to addressing that.
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Scott Taylor-Barr
Principal Adviser at Barnsdale Financial Management
I think that qualifications are a great way to help the industry learn and grow, but also show the wider public that we have done so. However, the sad truth is that many consumers don't know or understand the qualifications we hold, I hold the DipMAP (or Advanced CeMAP as it later became known) rather than just the basic CeMAP, but I've never had a client comment on that nor do I think it's ever been a deciding factor in someone choosing me to be their adviser (of course, I could always be wrong about that!). That's not to say that they hold no value, if you are committed to the specialist lending space and in particular if you are quite new to the industry, it's a great idea and it's then up to you how hard you push it within your marketing to try and gain a competitive advantage. Would I choose to take it myself? Maybe, it will depend on the content of the course and how aligned to my business I feel it is.