advice for a mortgage advisor

deems

I'm new to this, so if it has been discussed before please just point me in the right direction. My husband is a mortgage advisor who qualified about 6 months ago (really bad timing!) He has been trying to work independently with a group called "Gifted Finance", but with this current market it has been really slow. To make things worse, Gifted has asked all advisors working for them to cease work since December while they "renew their license". I'm not familiar with all of these terms, but I'm really worried for his career. Is there anything else that he could be doing with a CeMap qualification? He is also qualified to sell insurance. As far as I can see, mortgage advice seems to be going nowhere at the moment. He's managed to find a temporary job just to pay the bills, but its not doing his career or his CV any favours. Does anyone have any advice?

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax

He could leave Gifted Finance and join a Mortgage Network. He would need to produce his own mortgage leads but that's not a problem if Gifted don't provide any for him either.

A quick look on their website and I see that they aren't a company I would want to deal with when their Home Page (I couldn't be bothered to look any further) is not FSA compliant.

To be honest, the only brokers I know, who are doing ok just now, are ones with many years in the business and who have a good sized client bank of prime clients. That's one that's not jumped on the "We do mortgages for people with CCJs, Arrears, Bankrupcy" bandwaggon.

Now isn't a good time for him to be getting into the business unless he has access to plenty of mortgage leads or referrals, but if he has, then there are other add on services he can earn a little extra on, which would be a service for the clients. Such as Utilities, Telephones, Insurances, Assurances, Will writing, HIPs packs, Conveyancing, Debt Management, Financial Services (such as pensions and investments), some of which he'd be able to do him self and some he could refer to others as an introducer.

Good luck.

brightbuy

Oh no, I'm afraid your husband couldn't have picked a worse company to start with. Ask him if this sounds familiar: He was invited to a presentation and if he was 'lucky' in his one-to-one interview, he would be offered a contract at the end?

The funny thing is that everyone gets taken away individually and gets offered a contract. If you both had read it fully, you would certainly not have jumped at the chance to sign.

From memory it's riddled with concerns, they want something like £3k upfront and for this you get 'comprehensive training and lead provision'. Its a big con, they are a company set up to take advantage of new brokers.

For a start up broker, try Countrywide mortgages or Connells. You get a free training course, a basic salary, and leads from the estate agents you are based in.

HelpWhereIcan

If I were new to the industry I would look nowhere other than the banks and building societies to be working in these days.

unfortunately many people underestimate the experience that is needed - the experience in getting some kind of structured process in place is a bare minimum let alone wider knowledge - this means that they all think they can go straight in to independent practice with no client bank.

It's not about brians or ability per se, it's about giving yourself the best possible chance in a good market let alone one that sees many advisers struggling no matter how good they are or how many clients they have.

Then again, remembering what I was like when I was new to the industry, I wouldn't have listened to me either.

deems

Thanks for all your help and advice. When he did qualify, he looked everywhere for a bank or building society to work with so that he could gain more experience. Unfortunately, the economic situation meant that they were laying off the advisors that they already had, and nobody was hiring. He even considered working as an apprentice with qualified independent advisors, but he would have had to work with no basic salary, on a commission-only basis, and have to give 50% to the advisor whom he is working for. Doing the calculations, this would not have given him much to survive on. He has been working very hard since he qualified, trying to learn the ropes on his own, and just when he started to get the hang of things he's had to stop taking on new jobs while "Gifted Finance" sorts out its compliance. i guess its a good thing because when he can finally start working again Gifted will be fully compliant, but it seems like the only choice he has. He even tried to ring every estate agent in our area to see if they needed a mortgage advisor to work for them. As long as we know that he will eventually be ok, we can cope for now. I'm just worried that the mortgage advice business will never recover and he will never make a decent living of this.

Conrad

Your husband will find it very hard in this market, and it wont change over night.

Lending is rationed, and getting cases through requires a lot of experience. I would say for every 10 enquiries I get, I place one case. It used to be about 1 in 3.

Remember the really simple cases dont need a broker, and will tend to manage thier own afairs by researching online.

I would say retrain and get into another sector because mortgages are no go for noobs for the next few years. Green energy, enviroment related business and housing associations are growing sectors.

Debt managment is completely flooded - I dont bother with it at all as everyone has jumped on that bandwaggon. Better to keep clear of the herd.

I would employ someone to sell insurance to my existing clients as I do not do this, but they will need to be very resilient as most clients getting a call out of the blue about insurance will decline the offer. Imagine yourself getting a cold call about insurance!

Wakey2008

The orginal post is from February so I wonder how he has got on since.

Probably done the right thing by cutting his losses and getting another job.