Mortgage Adviser Trainee

magicarp

thats what i was thinking get the cemap and then going around trying to get a trainee position.

HelpWhereIcan

shameless-about-money wrote:

The clients must have faith in them since the banks are sending them to these companies in the first place - that must be why it works?

I could get hold of what is referred to as 'bank decline data' tommorow if I wanted to. They are not passed the details of the customer directly by the bank. The bank sells the data to a marketing company who sells it on to 'approved' firms.

Go onto the moneybackbank website. In the small print of their appliation, they state that if you fail, your information will be passed to a 'specialist' company unless you advise them otherwise ie your data is sold

I cannot see a local/regional firm having a direct relationship with any bank.

As for the ethics of the company - I am sure they feel they are offering the client the best advice, but the facts remain:

1. They target adverse and credit consolidation mortgages - two areas that the FSA has in their sights. Unless their complaince is watertight, they may not be around for long and you need to take into account the experience (in mortgages) of the directors when trying to work this out.

2. They target remortgages only - this tells me a lot about the customer focus of the company - easy/quick business or a true service? They may have chosen to target adverse and debt consol because they know that most people looking for a 'standard' remortgage will not pay the fee and that targeting people in financial difficulty who need money quickly gives them the oppotunity to charge whatever fee and use whichever panel they like.

3. They charge a large fee by any stretch of the imagination. I would not put too much by a claim that all future mortgages are fee free as I have seen many a firm that does not have time to deal with existing clients cos they are too busy chasing new ones to charge a 1.95% fee to.

4. They have a panel. Have you found out who this panel is made up of? If it is mainly adverse lenders, they could quite happily satisfy the FSA that they have provided the most suitable mortgage from their panel, but this may be completely different to the deal the customer may have got from a broker with no panel restrictions. Do not get me started about companies who use the old 'customer wanted the money quickly so we had to self cert on a near prime deal with I group rather than going status with Nationwide' argument.

There is nothing wrong with sales training or a 'sales focus'. There is no getting away from the sales element of this industry even in the best firms. Where it becomes a problem is where the need for numbers outweighs the desire for quality - a very fine line.

Go for the job if you think it suits you, just make sure that you read the industry press widely enough to be aware of the 'norms' so that you can spot the dodgy practices if they arise. I know of firms who will not recruit from within the industry who have fantastic reputations, but I know a hell of a lot more good firms who will not touch you if you worked for a certain firm due to fears of some unsavoury habits that may have been formed. No one wants to completely retrain someone - whether they have to beat the good out of them or the bad is dependant upon the firm.

You have to know where you are and go into things eyes open.

shameless-about-money

zoeleigh wrote:

How much will they charge you for those leads?? Can't believe for one minute they will provide them for free.

If you can get your CeMAPs sorted first there are some High St lenders who will look at you for a trainee position and put you thru their training before letting you loose on clients.

They are not charging me anything for those leads - I will be fully employed by this Company, not self-employed!

shameless-about-money

magicarp wrote:

thats what i was thinking get the cemap and then going around trying to get a trainee position.

You will find that no Company will employ you with just the CeMap 1,2,3.

The minimum is CeMap one PLUS one year's experience of selling mortgages!

magicarp

HelpWhereIcan wrote:

I could get hold of what is referred to as 'bank decline data' tommorow if I wanted to. They are not passed the details of the customer directly by the bank. The bank sells the data to a marketing company who sells it on to 'approved' firms.

Go onto the moneybackbank website. In the small print of their appliation, they state that if you fail, your information will be passed to a 'specialist' company unless you advise them otherwise ie your data is sold

I cannot see a local/regional firm having a direct relationship with any bank.

As for the ethics of the company - I am sure they feel they are offering the client the best advice, but the facts remain:

1. They target adverse and credit consolidation mortgages - two areas that the FSA has in their sights. Unless their complaince is watertight, they may not be around for long and you need to take into account the experience (in mortgages) of the directors when trying to work this out.

2. They target remortgages only - this tells me a lot about the customer focus of the company - easy/quick business or a true service? They may have chosen to target adverse and debt consol because they know that most people looking for a 'standard' remortgage will not pay the fee and that targeting people in financial difficulty who need money quickly gives them the oppotunity to charge whatever fee and use whichever panel they like.

3. They charge a large fee by any stretch of the imagination. I would not put too much by a claim that all future mortgages are fee free as I have seen many a firm that does not have time to deal with existing clients cos they are too busy chasing new ones to charge a 1.95% fee to.

4. They have a panel. Have you found out who this panel is made up of? If it is mainly adverse lenders, they could quite happily satisfy the FSA that they have provided the most suitable mortgage from their panel, but this may be completely different to the deal the customer may have got from a broker with no panel restrictions. Do not get me started about companies who use the old 'customer wanted the money quickly so we had to self cert on a near prime deal with I group rather than going status with Nationwide' argument.

There is nothing wrong with sales training or a 'sales focus'. There is no getting away from the sales element of this industry even in the best firms. Where it becomes a problem is where the need for numbers outweighs the desire for quality - a very fine line.

Go for the job if you think it suits you, just make sure that you read the industry press widely enough to be aware of the 'norms' so that you can spot the dodgy practices if they arise. I know of firms who will not recruit from within the industry who have fantastic reputations, but I know a hell of a lot more good firms who will not touch you if you worked for a certain firm due to fears of some unsavoury habits that may have been formed. No one wants to completely retrain someone - whether they have to beat the good out of them or the bad is dependant upon the firm.

You have to know where you are and go into things eyes open.

thanks for the advice i am pretty clued up on knowing whats dodgy and whats not ask a few question can you give me some pointers at what i should be asking

magicarp

magicarp wrote:

thanks for the advice i am pretty clued up on knowing whats dodgy and whats not ask a few question can you give me some pointers at what i should be asking

sorry forgot to add i am going for interview next week

shameless-about-money

Since Magicarp and I have both been interviewed by the same Company I think we both agree that they are not dodgy!!

There is no hint of anything dodgy about them.

The very fact they have a number - 10 I think - mortgage advisors to start with, coupled with the fact that they are expanding to another 12 by Dec 07 and another 50 by Dec 08 means that the Company is doing rather well for itself.

The comment above re not honouring the "claim" of only paying one fee for life and the Company dishonouring the claim would never work - they would end up in Court quick smart.
From my fishing about from information a lot of Companies do things that way.

Also, how are the banks any better? You go to, for example, the Halifax and are only offered Halifax mortgage products.
At least these "selection of whole of market" mortgages give the consumer more choice and flexibility.
On interview, when I asked about the "whole of market" I was told that they used a panel of some 70 companies, the Director did rhyme off some of the companies that they use - high street banks and building societies being some of them.

I fail to see where this Company is doing anything wrong. They are obviously using a very successful model - and taking trade away from the High Street lenders - and therein lies jealousy.

dunstonh

You need to know what the sales targets are. Is a case count target or is it a value target?

You need to know before you start how many mortgages you will need to flog to hit your target. You will then have to see how many appointments you will need to do to get that number. You could end up needing 15-20 appointments a week. Can you do 15-20 appointments (remember most will want evening calls)?

Basically, you have to work back from the target to see if it is achievable.

It is important to make sure you make the right decision. If you dont hit target and they dismiss you, do you really want a bad reference on your file when you go applying for other jobs?

There is no hint of anything dodgy about them.

No offence but until you have been in the industry many years, you wouldnt know when to spot dodgy a lot of time.

The very fact they have a number - 10 I think - mortgage advisors to start with, coupled with the fact that they are expanding to another 12 by Dec 07 and another 50 by Dec 08 means that the Company is doing rather well for itself.

That doesnt mean anything. Another company that had a quick start up like that was citisolutions and they are complete rip of merchants. It isnt until a few years later that it shows.

That said, it doenst mean this one is bad. However, you have to be realistic. They are preying on the financially unaware and weak and charging them big fees in the process.

I fail to see where this Company is doing anything wrong. They are obviously using a very successful model - and taking trade away from the High Street lenders - and therein lies jealousy.

These companies are also very good at brainwashing their staff.

You cannot call a business that has only been running a year or two successful. It probably has big debts at this stage to cover the costs of start up with a business plan to break even at some point in the future. It may get there, it may not but 1-2 years isnt enough.

shameless-about-money

Maximum of TWO appointments per day - I did mention this before.

This would mean a target of 3 mortgages plus associated sales per week.

How are they preying on the financially weak? If they are charging one fee for life then they will end up charging the customer a lot less than a high street bank, not more.

magicarp

dunstonh wrote:

You need to know what the sales targets are. Is a case count target or is it a value target?

You need to know before you start how many mortgages you will need to flog to hit your target. You will then have to see how many appointments you will need to do to get that number. You could end up needing 15-20 appointments a week. Can you do 15-20 appointments (remember most will want evening calls)?

Basically, you have to work back from the target to see if it is achievable.

It is important to make sure you make the right decision. If you dont hit target and they dismiss you, do you really want a bad reference on your file when you go applying for other jobs?


No offence but until you have been in the industry many years, you wouldnt know when to spot dodgy a lot of time.



That doesnt mean anything. Another company that had a quick start up like that was citisolutions and they are complete rip of merchants. It isnt until a few years later that it shows.

That said, it doenst mean this one is bad. However, you have to be realistic. They are preying on the financially unaware and weak and charging them big fees in the process.



These companies are also very good at brainwashing their staff.

You cannot call a business that has only been running a year or two successful. It probably has big debts at this stage to cover the costs of start up with a business plan to break even at some point in the future. It may get there, it may not but 1-2 years isnt enough.

come on then is anyone going to give me a clue at what questions i should be asking at the interview considering they have about fourty people behind me to interview and someone is going to take the job