Mortgage Adviser Trainee

toonfish

Good luck with it all - it's a great career and I can't see myself doing anything else.

Just be aware that often the salaries/on target earnings are not that realistic. Find out how much you can expect to earn per case, and do your own calculations from there based on how many you think are achievable.

One of my former colleagues went to work in an estate agency as the sole adviser and they expected him to write 12 mortgages a week, and do all the associated admin for his salary - it's not humanly possible.

If I was starting all over again I'd look at one of the high street banks to get a solid grounding at someone else's expense.

AndyWallace

It's down to the quality of leads as stated.

The company are obviously fee charging and I would say that will be in the region of 2k.

So a 30k high street remortgage is dangerous ground for you guys.

Good luck all the same.

Andy.

shameless-about-money

They are a fee-charging Company - both of the companies I want to work for are.

This is from their own website -

A fee of a maximum of 1.95% of the loan amount, capped at £2,495, payable on completion. The first £149 is payable up front. Typically this will be an average of £1,560.

These two companies don't do any first time mortgages, only remortgages, apparently. Is there a reason for this?

Please explain -

So a 30k high street remortgage is dangerous ground for you guys.

They are a two year old company with only 10 MA, another 12 by Dec 07 and 50 in total by Dec 08, so I was told.


You cannot get any position as a trainee with a bank or building society. I could do the CeMap 1, 2 and 3 on my own but then no-one would want to employ me!

I want this job to get the training, etc. Do you think I am not doing the right thing? Please do tell me the truth, don't waffle on me.

dunstonh

They are charging more for mortgages than the FSA average for investments. Yet investments carries far more work and liability. If the fee includes full commission rebate then its not as bad but its still pretty steep.

The problem you have with mortgages is that people often go to a couple of brokers to begin with to get an idea of costs and how much they can borrow. They go away for months and then will go back to the broker they felt was the best or gave the best terms (sometimes they will see 3 or 4 brokers). With fees that high, you are going to find it hard to persuade clients that you are better value than the mortgage adviser that doesnt charge fees.

What cross selling will they expect you to do? (life assurance, ASU, Home Insurance etc)

Is that area tied to one company? If so, then expect prices to be around 25-40% higher than IFA/whole of market pricing.

toonfish

a fee of 2% of the loan is extortionate in my opinion - this will be on top of any fee charged by the lenders - I suspect you will be dealing with difficult remortgages (adverse credit) in the main, and debt consolidation.

it's a personal choice only you can make.

Why not speak to some companies before doing your cemap, and see if there are any future positions available - many IFA firms for example no longer do any mortgage work and might be willing to give you a chance - you could approach some of the networks. You'll not get anywhere near 60K in your first year like this though.

shameless-about-money

dunstonh wrote:

They are charging more for mortgages than the FSA average for investments. Yet investments carries far more work and liability. If the fee includes full commission rebate then its not as bad but its still pretty steep.

The problem you have with mortgages is that people often go to a couple of brokers to begin with to get an idea of costs and how much they can borrow. They go away for months and then will go back to the broker they felt was the best or gave the best terms (sometimes they will see 3 or 4 brokers). With fees that high, you are going to find it hard to persuade clients that you are better value than the mortgage adviser that doesnt charge fees.

What cross selling will they expect you to do? (life assurance, ASU, Home Insurance etc)

Is that area tied to one company? If so, then expect prices to be around 25-40% higher than IFA/whole of market pricing.

Life assurance, home insurance etc, yes.

They are using a panel of whole of market - some 70 companies, apparently.

AndyWallace

I think this is a good way to get started actually. He gets his training and his qualification. OK, he'll be targetted but at least he has something out of them if he is not performing.

Once he has that he can go and be an AR or at least move about in similar roles.

Andy.

The reason for remortgages only is because they will be mainly consolidating debts.

1.95% of 30k is £585, add to this any fees associated with the re-mortgage.

If you offer a completely fee free mortgage, the mortgage administration fee from the old company will be around £225.

And then some anciliary costs such as telegraphic transfer fees etc which might amount to around £70 or so.

Thus total fees of around £880 to get the mortgage.

Divide this by the scheme period (months), say 24 month discounted tracker to make the proposition anything like attractive, and you have a monthly cost for the advice of £36.

A 30k mortgage over say 16 years on a lenders SVR will be around £264 per month.

A 30k mortgage on a new (fees assisted deal ie no val, free legals and no arrangement fees) will be around £237 per month.

So technically you could be saving them money, but the cost of the re-mortgage outweigh any benefit.

I.e. Save £27 per month for 2 years and then client has higher than current payments even if left at SVR.

Don't forget that the costs of advice / product switch is more than £27.

toonfish

not sure where you live but if you type "trainee mortgage adviser" into google there are loads of opportunites. I know London & Country are recruiting now as well, different type of business model I'm also not that keen on but they are more ethical and I expect you would have a much wider range of clients to deal with and hence get more experience.

shameless-about-money

toonfish wrote:

a fee of 2% of the loan is extortionate in my opinion - this will be on top of any fee charged by the lenders - I suspect you will be dealing with difficult remortgages (adverse credit) in the main, and debt consolidation.

it's a personal choice only you can make.

Why not speak to some companies before doing your cemap, and see if there are any future positions available - many IFA firms for example no longer do any mortgage work and might be willing to give you a chance - you could approach some of the networks. You'll not get anywhere near 60K in your first year like this though.

Yes they are doing debt consolidation and adverse credit - I did ask about that at the interview.
The problem is that, for the most part, I don't know the right questions to ask! They are getting leads from banks and building societies that won't touch adverse credit applicants.

I thought that this might be a good way of getting qualified, getting paid and gaining knowledge and sales' training (since I haven't got any!) all at the same time. I figured on staying with the company for, maybe one or two years, then finding something else.

They have both been extremely successful companies so far. Neither will employ anyone fully qualified, nor if they have worked as a MA before. They want brand new recruits.

Now I am confused!

toonfish

shameless-about-money wrote:

They have both been extremely successful companies so far. Neither will employ anyone fully qualified, nor if they have worked as a MA before. They want brand new recruits.

seriously, why do you think that is?

I don't want to put a dampner on it, and your heart appears to be in it so I wish you all the best, wherever you end up.