Take extra care when using brokers at moment

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax

payless wrote: »

Exactly my point .. so isn't this the platform to be showing how good brokers can be , rather than pushing them into the arms of the less qualified / restricted choice banks

YOU are the person telling people to beware of using brokers! :whistle:

payless

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax wrote: »

YOU are the person telling people to beware of using brokers! :whistle:

I'm not.. I'm saying - Take extra care when using brokers at moment
- basically make sure you know what you are paying for ( and by paying for- I include commission)

silvercar

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax wrote: »

Don't you think that people reading this thread will think that brokers come across more deals than Mr & Mrs Average on £30,000 a year wanting to remortgage their £75000 mortgage on a £150000 property?

Lenders don't give advice. The majority of Brokers do.

The savvy consumer (MSE) would phone up a whole of market broker and say I have looked around and can get £X at £Y rate with £Z fee, can you beat it.

The broker then has a decision, either they feel that it is worth their time doing a full fact find etc and finding a better deal for the consumer or would realise that they can't beat it and say so.

Tiddler_2

Brokers have an obvious dilemma at the moment as the majority of high street lenders seem to be taking the temporary measure of offering better rates to direct customers, in order to reduce business levels in their intermediary processing centres, and increase business through their branches where they have more capacity, and to help pay for branch staff.

Do you/we charge a customer a fee, do the factfind then tell the customer to go direct, and hope to pick up some insurance business or do you continue to just advise them on the deals available to the broker market?

Sourcing systems tell you (within reason) which lenders are offering the best rates to the broker market, but if you choose to send a customer direct how do you know that is the best deal? Do you just go with the best one you know of i.e HSBC.

Be interesting to here fellow brokers decisions on what they will be doing!!

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax

silvercar wrote: »

The savvy consumer (MSE) would phone up a whole of market broker and say I have looked around and can get £X at £Y rate with £Z fee, can you beat it.

The broker then has a decision, either they feel that it is worth their time doing a full fact find etc and finding a better deal for the consumer or would realise that they can't beat it and say so.

Sorry but I'm not an Order Taker. I give advice. What the client has found may not be the right mortgage once they have had their situation analysed by a broker.

I've had many clients come to me with exactly the situation you've described above, only to go away with a 5 year Fixed Rate instead of a comparable 3 year Tracker which they may have found!

payless

Tiddler wrote: »

Brokers have an obvious dilemma at the moment as the majority of high street lenders seem to be taking the temporary measure of offering better rates to direct customers, in order to reduce business levels in their intermediary processing centres, and increase business through their branches where they have more capacity, and to help pay for branch staff.

Do you/we charge a customer a fee, do the factfind then tell the customer to go direct, and hope to pick up some insurance business or do you continue to just advise them on the deals available to the broker market?

Sourcing systems tell you (within reason) which lenders are offering the best rates to the broker market, but if you choose to send a customer direct how do you know that is the best deal? Do you just go with the best one you know of i.e HSBC.

Be interesting to here fellow brokers decisions on what they will be doing!!

I use emoneyfacts to backup my MBL licence, as this also gives direct deals .. remember its not only HSBC, but most of the lenders that we use ( HBOS... C&G, NW etc) that are dual pricing at moment

So far I have happily given away research for free, however I will likely introduce a small research fee to include all lenders (to cover my expenses) , refunded if we transact commission earning business. ( mtg or life )

In fact I've had this as a option listed on my terms for years, but will start highlighting ( or making it conditional rathger than an option)

Dan_Collins_2

I was at a conference on Friday and before I got drunk I spoke to our network compliance guy. He says we have to send clients direct and we should be aware of what is going on in the market place.

All the lenders that are actually lending are offering better deals to go direct, not just a few products but a whole range. If a client wants a tracker, 2,3 or 5 year fixed they are better off going direct. It is a tempory messure according to most lenders but it wont be long and brokers will start shutting doors!

payless

Who's the compliance guy ( still JR or AG ?)
Noticed some comments on "chatterbox" .
Hows the RSC going ?

InMyDreams

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax wrote: »

Sorry but I'm not an Order Taker. I give advice. What the client has found may not be the right mortgage once they have had their situation analysed by a broker.

Which begs the question 'why do people use a broker?' There are lots of very good reasons, and not just for the 'advice'.

I used a broker 5 years ago because I was lead to believe at the time (and I've no reason not to believe it) that brokers were privy to better deals. Plus I didn't have time (or confidence) to do all the research myself.

This time, in a better position financially and more knowledgeable, I did exactly what silvercar said above. I didn't feel I needed the advice, I just wanted the best deals from which I could choose myself but happy to pass some commission the way of a friendly broker if they could source something as good or better than myself. I tried contacting a few brokers, said upfront what I had found myself (the HSBC deal at the time although I didn't end up going that way) and offered them my business if they felt they could beat it with some broker-only offer. One actually did phone back with some suggestions (none of them close to what I had found myself) one said straight up that he wouldn't be able to find better and one never phoned back.

dunstonh

In the last property crash when lending when bad and the banks cut back, they changed their focus to the insurance and investment products. It was all about cross sales back then. Bonuses and targets were insurance related and not lending.

It could be that by making ther broker deals less attractive they will reduce the amount of new lending they get overall but by making people come to them they will get cross sale opportunities that they wouldnt get if it was done via the broker.