Mortgage brokers should stay in their lane

Any company name or strapline is of course to entice customers to that particular business. Specialist brokers and specialist packagers are simply a conduit to get the client where they need to be. The term specialist is often used in my mind to attract a client to that service, after all you wouldnt take your Lambo to 'Dick n' Daves' Garage Services', but you would likely take it to 'Lamborghini Specialist Services'. Many packagers dont have brands the customers recognise or trust, so in comes the broker, who often already has the client's trust or is referred to from a trusted source. That broker can then refer onto the packager, if needed. Packagers deal with a handful of lenders to present a 'fully packaged' case, often with no advice given on their part. A packager who bemoans the broker who acts in the best interest of a client and performs financial triage by refering off to a particular specialist packager, is kind of biting the hand that feeds them.

Experienced mortgage brokers will be more than comfortable with working in specialist markets, whilst those new to the industry may not be skilled sufficiently and that may be the danger trying to be highlighted here. However, as a packager that relies upon a referral model for business, and adopting some high added fee models, they need to make sure they don’t end up costing broker clients a poor deal themselves.

I am excited to see more brokers wanting to move into specialist areas of advice. I honestly don’t believe this is a “jack of all trades” approach because we need more complex advisors that are equipped to provide solutions for all client situations. Having more experienced advisers covering specialist lending and not having to refer to third parties enhances the customers journey, retaining that relationship for life. We have been in the specialist space for several years now and I can honestly say that investing in advisors' training, knowledge and development is the way we improve the industry as a whole. A tough feat that takes time and effort for any principle.

Its dissapointing to read comments like these from someone in the industry. To call inexperiened advisers "fly-by-night" probably isn't the wisest choice of words from someone that relies on business from these exact same advisers. The term "specialist" is often used to inflate fees and when you have a realtionship with a client rather than pass them to someone who will charge an eye-watering amount, it's about putting in the extra effort and research to find them the right solution.

The irony of a man who works for a firm that advertises its only two residential mortgage advisors as 'specialist residential mortgage advisors', whilst bemoaning other hardworking, regulated and qualified mortgage brokers, is laughable. His comments sound like he's just come out of a meeting with his bosses who have given him a roasting because he hasn't generated enough business for them, however with comments about brokers like this being made, he really has bitten off the hand that feeds him. I'll probably see this bloke at the job centre next week when I pop in for a specialist mortgage appointment with one of the staff there looking to buy their first home. Any broker passing this guy leads should hang their heads in shame and look for another industry to be shafted in.