Is my mortgage broker dodgy?

toonfish

dunstonh wrote:

Tell me a large firm that hasnt been fined by the regulator. At that time, the PIA must have wanted their building decorated or to pay for more staff nights out as they were dishing fines out to loads that year.

they evidently have "sales targets" too!

MortgageMamma

AndyWallace wrote:

My point is that we don't know for sure what the full circumstances were. You may be misinterpreting things said.

I'm not having a go at you, I just feel that you are not best placed to make these types of statements.

Now simmer down.

Andy.

Why am I not best placed to make such statements? Don't try patronising me doing the "holier than thou" act andy, you know very little of me and my business, my practices, or my ethics.

AndyWallace

MortgageMamma wrote:

Why am I not best placed to make such statements? .

Because you weren't privy to the dealings in this case.

MortgageMamma wrote:

Don't try patronising me doing the "holier than thou" act andy, you know very little of me and my business, my practices, or my ethics.

I'll consider myself told. :rolleyes:

HelpWhereIcan

toonfish wrote:

they evidently have "sales targets" too!

Anyone in business who says they don't have a target is either lying, mad or shortly to be bankrupt. I am sure I have seen even Conrad admit to having a target before!!

The pressure on me to perform is one that I set myself. I do not set my target arbitrarily. It comes down to how much I like living where I do and eating. I would argue that I am under less pressure than a salesman for a large national firm. They are very focussed on sales numbers and cross selling and tend to be the home of the new adviser.

The point that Conrad makes about large direct sales forces is actually very accurate. I was once a company rep for a firm whose name was often corrupted to end with Crowbar.

They gave me some of the best sales training I ever received and had a very sales focussed environment.

That is where Conrad and I start to diverge though. His assumption that this continues into sole practice is very strange to me. Not everyone who does both mortgages and protection forces it down their customers' throats.

I think he assumes a very low skill set and level of intelligence. The industry has changed and is no longer the home for wide boys with the gift of the gap it used to be. After so many years at Countrywide Conrad will know many people who have left the industry to pursue other careers that require less ongoing training and just need a sharp suit and sales patter. (Think I bought some advertising off one of them!!!:rotfl: )

He could be right, he may not. The bad apples are still there and my point is that they need to be either retrained or leave the industry.

Does not mean that everyone who does both mortgages and protection are all sharks and Conrad ruins what is a good point about the need for robust training and development with that ridiculous generalisation.:rolleyes:

HelpWhereIcan

Conrad wrote:

Commision and advice dont mix.

Imagine your Doctor was entirley remunerated as a result of selling potions and lotions. How do you think this would alter the quality of the advice.

Cmon guys get real please

Do not think you can accept any commission if you want to claim the moral high ground. This point would be better made if you were paid solely by fee rather than by fee and commission.

I actually thought of becoming fee charging and rebating all commission back to the customer. Still might, and to me that is the other end of the spectrum to your 'commission crows'.

Your model is neither and not even somewhere in between. You claim that you charge a fee cos you specialise but do not have the courage to just charge a fee.

Surely if you can prove your mortgage expertise is so much greater than mine, you would be willing to say

"Look, go and talk to that fee free adviser. See what they come up with. Come back to me and I will show you why paying me fee of £1000 (getting a rebate of £x in commission) will be worth paying when I get a demonstrably better deal and service not to mention the significantly better policy that the "protection specialist" I refer you to advises."

Madjock

the mortgage advisers at the co i work for must be frickin geniuses then, as they manage to advise on mortgage AND life products, and even buildings insurance too.
Wow! I work for some pretty smart people.