Mortgage broker as a career

katebenno

Hi I’m considering a career change to a mortgage broker can any mortgage brokers advise how easy this would be? 

I’d be able to do the CeMAP course at home quite easily but I’m not sure how I can get the work experience all the jobs require without actually being able to work/shadow with a mortgage broker. Would this be possible? 

Many thanks 

ACG

The easy part is doing the exams. 
The harder part as you say is working towards CAS, you need someone to take you on and train you up. There are 2 routes for this, self employed or employed. 

At the minute it is probably not the best industry to get into. I know brokers with 2 years under their belts who will struggle to see out this virus. No harm doing the exams though and just keeping an eye out for any jobs but I suspect you will be up against experienced brokers so you may struggle unless you are prepared to go self employed and have a way of generating income earning customers. 

dunstonh

Hi I’m considering a career change to a mortgage broker can any mortgage brokers advise how easy this would be?

I'm not a mortgage broker but I do employ them in my company.   Its easy to pass the exams.  The problem is the same it has always been.  Getting enough business.  You cannot cold call or door knock.      Over half of new advisers leave the industry within 2 years (often in debt) and it is mostly due to lack of customers.   So, you need to forward plan how you are going to do enough mortgages on an ongoing basis to survive.

MichaelMe

Interesting topic. I had similar thoughts last year or so. Almost signed up to do the exams / course. But in the end I had seconds thoughts and have not done anything of it since. I do agree that the course is the easy part. I was actually thinking of going into mortgage underwriting. I currently work as an underwriter in unsecured and hire purchase credits. Do you guys think it is equally hard to get into mortgage underwriter roles?

[Deleted User]

On the broker question - I also seriously considered it, but as others say obtaining CAS and generating a decent income is very hard at the start. If you're in a household where you other half (for example) earns a decent amount and you could realistically cope without income, then it's worth giving it a try - but if it's tight/standard, then it's very difficult. Of course nothing in life is easy, so that's not to say you shouldn't try it, just be aware. 

What I hate it the adverts saying £50k OTE trainee advisor etc. From speaking to current/ex advisors (and processing some of their mortgages!), I struggle to see how a trainee advisor will earn anywhere near £50k in year 1 unless there's significant advances/clawbacks etc in operation! So make sure you're fully aware of what's actually going on before you sign up to anything.

I know a few people who have trained up via Estate Agents (lower salary, quite sales driven re: insurances etc. too), but then moved on to better salary/commission splits etc. once they've completed whatever they were contracted in for (2/3 years IIRC) and got CAS, decent experience etc. Some trainee jobs will actually pay for your CeMAP too (which is ideally if you struggle with exams) - but if you've already got CeMAP that'll be a lot better.

RE: Underwriting for @MichaelMe - It really depends on the employer/lender. Many jobs will require you've previously held a lending mandate (but may not specify which type of lending, which will be an advantage for you!!), or as a minimum being able to evidence strong cusotmer service skills etc.

Others will actually want mortgage mandate. Have a look at Equity Release lenders, if you fancy that and aren't having much luck with Mortgage Underwriting - ER lenders seemed like they'd be more willing to train up when I was looking for my first underwriting job