Which? Brokerage Closing

amnblog

Word is out in the Trade Press that Which? are closing their mortgage broking arm.

Is anyone in mid process with Which?

Is anyone an existing customer? What have you been told?

SonOf

I think this is a good thing. A consumer body should not be trading in areas that it is often campaigning about for changes. Especially when you consider that it was a factory line process and not that competitive on pricing. Most local brokers (who are usually more experienced and knowledgeable than the factory line services) were charging less for better quality.

Which managed to run heavy losses over the years on this pointless exercise.

csgohan4

SonOf wrote: »

I think this is a good thing. A consumer body should not be trading in areas that it is often campaigning about for changes. Especially when you consider that it was a factory line process and not that competitive on pricing. Most local brokers (who are usually more experienced and knowledgeable than the factory line services) were charging less for better quality.

Which managed to run heavy losses over the years on this pointless exercise.

To be fair local brokers often don't charge or charge around £500 or thereabouts so it's variable.

Which? were on my short list for brokers purely on reputation alone, decided to use someone else in the end, not local but a broker on MSE who is not a conveyor belt. Never looked back and had my mortgage offer no problems.

I am surprised a conveyor belt broker in Which? charge at all, most don't like L+C which we know you get what you pay for

muhandis

As a brokerage they had an unusual compensation system for brokers with no commission but a "reward system that focuses on your excellent customer service skills" so I imagine they would have struggled with recruiting/retaining good brokers and incentivising them in a manner that prioritised keeping an eye on the prize ie completion.

amnblog

muhandis wrote: »

As a brokerage they had an unusual compensation system for brokers.

Their turnover was growing by 20 to 30% pa but the business was never close to profitable.

Turnover per employee seems tad modest for a Brokerage business so you could be on to something there Muhandis.

Looks like the rest of us need to pick up the reins of "excellent customer service".