Mortgage Exams

PatchHFX

This is for all you mortgage consultants out there. I currently work in a Halifax Agency in Eastbourne, I am actually employed by a company called Steel & Co.

I was headhunted by the manager of the main branch in the town and he has offered me a place there. I aim to make my career in the finance sector, hopefully taking IFA exams etc. The manager of the branch told me i'd have plenty of oppurtunity to do this there.

The owner of Steel & Co has then offered to start me on mortgage training and to get me heading towards PFC exams? I think working for an independent company will ultimately benefit me inthe long run. I'm 19 so have a few years to decide, but want to decide now

Back on topic, does anybody out there have any links to websites giving advice on mortgages and exams, or could possibly give me advice themselves. I'd be eternally grateful!

Regards

Patrick

glasgowchick

Hiya, The cii are the ones who run all of the exams,

To be a mortgage adviser you need to sit CF 1 AND CF6, I think the exams can be sat on 4 dates around the year.

The website is ww.cii.co.uk, Hope this helps, Or you could try to phone learndirect and they may have more info. Tammy

Leon_W

http://www.ifslearning.com/home/default.cfm

This is where to start. All mortgage advisers must have the CeMap qualification (Certificate in Mortgage Advise and Practise) and you'll find the syllabus and details there.

Working in an independent will certainly help you in the long run. I started as a mortgage advisor with an independent estate agent which was bloody hard work, long hours, for average pay and high targets. I worked there for two years and learnt the business. Not just about mortgages, you'll have to be a lot smarter than that to cut it as an adviser, I mean the WHOLE business, the house buying process from start to finish.

Being a good adviser is not just picking the best product for your client. You really have to know how to deal with solicitors, pushy agents, even people crying infront of you because their purchase has gone wrong. You are generally the person the client will turn to for help with absolutely anything in the whole process of housebuying. So you do really have to know your stuff.

I have seen people get the qualification and think that they are the dogs. Exams being what they are just test you on technical knowledge and some people are great at that, but this is a people business, being able to get along with all walks of life and being able to explain yourself clearly will get you a lot further than just being good at exams.

Your young, work hard, get the qualifications, but don't think that just because you've past them that that is the end of it. I still learn something new everyday and it's that experience that counts.

The other qualification your thinking of is FPC (Financial Planning Certificate). I originally started out doing this which allows you to advise on pensions and investments etc but I quickly found that it was not my niche. I enjoy mortgages more but its horses for courses.

Anyway, best of luck.

PatchHFX

Thanks alot Tammy.

Excellent advice Leon, I have had a good chat with my boss about the whole thing and am confident I am up for it. Luckily I work under a consultant who has been in the business for near 20 years and has a lot of experience, will have to have a chat with him soon.

Regards

Patrick

BMT76

PatchHFX wrote:

Thanks alot Tammy.

Excellent advice Leon, I have had a good chat with my boss about the whole thing and am confident I am up for it. Luckily I work under a consultant who has been in the business for near 20 years and has a lot of experience, will have to have a chat with him soon.

Regards

Patrick

I have just started studying my Cemap exams through ifs and its not to bad, yet!

I worked as a tied financial advisor in the past and have FPC's but i never enjoyed talking pensions, savings etc. Mortgages & insurance i always coped well with.

PS. I have purchased some test papers from e**y for Cemap so If you ever need a copy of them, send me a pm and I will email them to you.

Leon_W

One further thing Patrick.

Your age will be a barrier. Some people will see you as a wet behind the ears young upstart. Sometimes it is awkward for people to take advice from somebody with little life experience.

Imagine your sat infront of a couple who are 35 say. You will find that the bloke will try to pick fault with anything you say as he will wish to appear that he knows more than you do. This is only because he doesn't want you to make him look silly in front of his other half. A pride thing.

This does not happen with more mature advisers.

Just remember, it doesn't make you a bad adviser, it's just that the older you become, the easier it is, as naturally we look to our seniors to know better. Unless you want to specialise in mortgages and pensions for the under 16s !. LOL.

All the best

PatchHFX

Thanks BMT, PM on it's way!

Another big thank you Leon, keep it coming i'm not adverse to situations as those, I do customer sales reviews sometimes in the agency, I find that if i can get a customer to talk to me for more than 5 minutes they usually relax, I know my products (Halifax products they be).

I had a customer in this morning who has ranted and raved then apologised afterwards and thanked me for being positive about his situation. The general public are very fickle though, hopefully I will have the oppurtunity to sit in on a few mortgage reviews with my boss, see whats what!

regards

Patrick

maryjane01

Leon,

I have to chenge jobs at the end of the year as the organisation I work for is closing down, and I am thinking about becoming a mortgage broker. I have applied for Cemap 1 which I plan to complete while I am still working in my current job. I think I have a lot of the qualities required to be a good mortgage advisor. I have worked for years in customer facing roles and think I generally communicate well with people. My current job is finance related (regulatory stuff), so I think I will get my head around the actual mortgage side of things.

The one thing that is making me hesitant is the 'sales' focus that is in many of the advertisments for advisors. I do not think I want a full on 'sales' job. Would being technically competent at finding the best mortgages for somebody and being an effective communicator to clients be enough for that to convert to somebody placing a mortgage through you or do you really spend a lot of time trying to convince people to take on mortgages in a sales kind of way? Advising people on the best mortgage for them is appealing to me, but a real sales focused role does not. Do you think I would make a good mortgage advisor or not?

Thanks for any advice.

andy777_2

I'd be very interested in the answers to MaryJane's question as my idea of a competent mortgage advisor is someone with the technical ability to analyse correctly the bewildering array of mortgages available, and then advise a client on the best choice for their particular circumstances. Of course personal skills are necessary as this is a people-facing job.

However, the job ads for mortgage advisors, even some of the larger, more reputable ones, seem to be looking for candidates described "money hungry", "super salesman" etc. Often the only reference to technical ability is the requirement to have passed some level of CEMAP. Any business is ultimately about sales but for me I would prefer to deal with an advisor who is technically able than someone whose main ability is his or her smooth tongue. Getting a mortgage is for most of us the biggest financial commitment of our lives.

Reading the posts by many of the advisors on this site they generously offer intelligent and well-considered advice. However, this is not the view many people seem to have of the profession because, I think, of the impression we're given of the relentless, sell-at-all-costs focus.

I'd be interested in any comments....

Leon_W

Hi maryjane

Some of the most successful mortgage advisors are women (I presume from your nick) in a fairly male dominated industry and the ones I know do very well.

Customer facing and communication are what it's all about so I guess you'll be pretty good. Doing the exams, again, good. Lots of employers will take people with CeMap 1 and continue to train them.

Sales angle. Bad bad bad !! I hate this as much as you do. The whole targetting thing is not good as it encourages poor practise in my view.

I have always been self employed in other industrys, but faced a bit of an early mid life crisis, so decided to do something completely different at 38 years old. I had run businesses with high overheads and thought what can I do from an attached office to my home, with few overheads, and flexible working to fit in with a small daughter. I knew a few financial advisers and thought with the proper training I could do a better job.

This meant actually working for someone to get experience ! (yuk)

As posted I bit the bullet and got a job with an estate agent as "trainee" mortgage advisor. Bit of a comedown that one ! BUT I quickly got up to speed, learnt the ropes from some very good advisors and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The only downside was the targets. £10,000 a month in commision from mortgage proc fees, life and building insurance sales. We didn't charge broker fees (fee free whole of market) For a small market town this often took some doing believe me, but more often than not I exceeded it.

Anyway, after a few years in the job I set out on my own and started my own business, why should the agent be raking it in ?

Now I work alone, with the support of a good network who help with compliance, do far fewer mortgages per month, have no targets and generally quite like life at the moment.

Everyone here bangs on about fee free whole of market brokers as if they are all one and the same. They are not. Some of these companies are like mortgage sausage factories with "phone" brokers running themselves ragged trying to get everything done AND MEET TARGET. This can lead to poor service, not all the time, but it's a more pressurised enviroment.

Most of the brokers who post here seem to be the best sort of broker. Small firms without huge overheads that don't have to work in a targetted fashion, therefore giving the client the best service possible. That's how I like to work.

Unfortunately most of us would have seen life on "the other side" but is generally a neccessity in order to get a good grounding.

No pain no gain, but I found the effort worth it as I have MY clients, many of whom are now personal friends.

To sum up, don't be afraid of targets as long as they are reasonable. There are also plenty of jobs available. As I was posting this I was called by a recruitment company asking if I knew of any advisers looking for a job, and they would see me alright if I did !

All the best with the job hunt.

maryjane01

Thanks for that Leon, many ads do seem to be targeted towards men. There was one job advertisement that as an example of an incentive the company offered you could get use of a luxury car for a weekend. That is a job I definitely would not be applying for.

The main reasons I am think about doing this is to eventually be self employed (and I think it sounds like the kind of thing I could be good at), but like you realise I have to learn first before I go out and do that.

If anybody can suggest companies that have offices in London that are whole of market, and perhaps place a bit of emphasis on support of new mortgage brokers rather than just focussing on sales targets, let me know. I should start applying for a new job sometime soon.