Copy article

Opinion pieces for The Intermediary - 2023 from the coalface

Journalist: Ryan Fowler, The Intermediary

ended 22. December 2023

Looking for 500-750 word opinion pieces for the website reflecting on 2023 from the perspective of actual brokers. 

What are the biggest challenges you've faced as a business, what wins have you had, what lenders and stakeholders could do better to support, or have done well, to support the broker market, how you think 2024 will play out etc. 

Anything we get in this week will go live on the site and be pushed around on emails/Linkedin. 

If you don't want to do the wordage and just want to do it on TikTok we can look at doing something with that. 

6 responses from the Newspage community

Copy all

Copy

Editor
Michelle Lawson
Director at Lawson Financial
This has been the year of war, strikes, doom, chaos, uncertainty and working three times as hard! Just when you thought nothing could get any worse, 2023 went off with a bang meaning swap rates changing everytime you blinked. The markets were spooked! Websites of mulitnational banks crashed, mortgage product rates were pulled with little or no notice. As quick as we were quoting, rates were gone again in a whirlwind and increased. We were working ridiculously long hours to get applications in and secured. On the whole we were successful! We have had the reverse of this the second half of the year with rates decreasing at the same pace with multiple rate changes on applications and product transfers- customers saving money at last! Lenders certainly found the flaws in their processes too this year. 2024 is a wish for much better communication-remember the customer is always at the end of what we do no matter who you are in the process. Here's to being ever hopeful.....
Copy

Editor
Simon Bridgland
Director at Charwin Private Clients
Whilst 2023 has thrown its fair share of challenges at brokers, I feel really excited to be involved in the later life sector, and really keen to get started in 2024. This comes from the innovation of have seen over the last year, which of particular note are More2life with their Apex range and its generous LTVs and super short redemption period. Others which are worth applauding are LiveMore and their menu of products in one place and recently Legal and General’s Payment Term Lifetime Mortgage. These are all giant leaps in the right direction of helping to align later life products with traditional mortgages.
I hope to see lots more of this type of ingenuity as we move into a higher gear with Consumer Duty in mind. Momentum is key for product evolution so with any luck we are only seeing a hint of what is to come.
Copy

Editor
Jack Tutton
Director at SJ Mortgages
I think 2023 has been one of the most challenging years the market has seen perhaps since the financial crash in 2008. At the start of the year, lenders were just starting to calm down and reduce rates following the explosive mini-budget. Only then did inflation bite and it bit hard, this sent rates soaring further than what we have seen in nearly a generation with the Bank of England raising the base rate to a level not seen since May 2001. We have had to be adaptive in the advice that we give to our clients and manage their expectations, this has been especially important with people who bought during COVID at very low rates who find themselves with rates nearly triple what they were. The markets are settling again now which is very positive for all the mortgage holders whose deals expire in 2024, but again we will look to manage expectations as the days of ultra-low mortgage rates are unlikely to be seen for a long time.
Copy

Editor
Mike Staton
Director at Staton Mortgages
The biggest challenge I've seen in the industry as a broker is from brokers. The industry has become too easy to enter and in my honest opinion, there are too many poorly skilled and experienced brokers out there trying to take a piece of the pie. Only this week have I seen 2 customers who were misadvised by newly qualified "free" Brokers, these clients would have been financially ruined if they had followed that advice. This needs to be stamped out, the mortgage industry needs stricter entry levels to get into and not treated like a used car sales forecourt where everybody is fighting for commission. I have already started to see some new brokers leave the industry now they have realised it is not as easy as they thought it was in Covid.
Copy

Matthew Jackson
Director at Mint FS
2023 has been a rollercoaster of a year for the mortgage industry - in my 25 Years in this industry I do not recall a year like it.

From the long-lasting effects of the disastrous mini-budget, through the cost of living pressures to rise after the rise in the Bank Of England Base rate brokers have been hit from all sides.

If you then add in the implementation of Consumer Duty - which at times has felt like it only applies to brokers and not lenders - which has led to a raft of new requirements and processes foisted on us.

And lastly, lenders who seem more concerned with their bottom line than the mental health of the brokers that introduce 70% + of their business - we have seen rates pulled with no notice, tightening of affordability and the introduction of some eye-watering fees for Buy To Let Applicants.

Through adversity though comes resilience - and the broker community has a resilience like no other. They rise to challenges with a constant focus on delivering for our clients
Copy

Alastair Hoyne
CEO, Finanze Capital at Finanze Capital
Here's a link to a post written for this piece. https://www.finanze.co.uk/post/2023-a-view-from-the-coalface