How many brokers and broker firms do you cover in your role?
I currently support around 500 brokers and I work closely with the largest 75 firms across the home counties.
How do you successfully organise and deal with business on a daily basis?
It is important to plan ahead to maximise the amount of support I can offer brokers. Each week I plan to focus on one specific geographical area each day, covering a number of brokers in the same area. This enables me to walk to appointments rather than drive, allowing me to make the most of time between meetings and be much more accessible on the phone because I’m not driving.
What issues come up time and time again?
I’m doing a lot of work with brokers at the moment on helping them to understand what changes in regulation mean for them, including the Mortgage Credit Directive (MCD). For example, different brokers have different definitions of consumer buy to let so this can cause confusion for brokers. It is important for me to work closely with our underwriters to ensure I’m giving brokers appropriate information about our criteria under the new regulations.
What do you wish brokers understood about your job?
Being a broker can be a high-pressured and difficult job, as they’re dealing with one of the most important and emotional financial transactions a person will make in their lifetime. I’m here to help make this as smooth as possible for them, so my job is to understand them. At Accord we try to help to make brokers’ lives easier – for instance we post our current service levels on the Accord website, which means if a broker submits a case they have a clear idea of when to expect a decision on an application. I’m here to help with any advice they may need about our process, criteria or approach before the application is submitted and throughout the entire process.
What do you think is the most important attribute in a good BDM?
Being contactable and returning phones calls as promptly as possible is crucial because brokers need quick decisions, and if you can’t help it allows them to quickly move on to the next lender.
Every mortgage application sent to Accord is now dealt with by a specific underwriter from start to finish. This is great as it gives the broker direct access to the underwriter working on a case meaning, especially for more complicated cases, our underwriters can contact a broker straight away and discuss what information they need to progress the case.
When you’re unavailable to contact via telephone, what’s the second-best way for brokers to get in touch?
They can contact our broker support team on 0345 1200 866, or use our web-chat facility at accordmortgages.com. Plus, brokers can get in touch with the underwriter working on their case, and they can even speak to an underwriter before they submit an application.
If you were head of the FCA for the day, what would you change about regulation in the mortgage industry?
Regulation is important – it is there to ensure people do not borrow more than they are able to repay, which is not in anyone’s interests, and gives brokers clarity on what’s expected of them.
What was your motivation for choosing business development as a career?
Initially I was a telephone BDM for Accord, and my role occasionally required attending broker appointments with our BDMs. I really loved this element of the job, I enjoy meeting people and supporting them so I knew that it was the job for me. I had worked at Accord for a long time (I’ve been with the Yorkshire Building Society Group for 18 years), so I was already armed with a good knowledge of the business and I had cultivated relationships with brokers before I went out into the field.
How do you establish and maintain a good relationship with brokers?
My career development within Accord has given me a good understanding of the business so I can assist brokers with cases from the outset, as well as help with queries relating to our application system. Also, I can make the most of my contacts at our head office to help a broker as much as possible. Knowing policy and criteria thoroughly is also a must.
And how do you establish and maintain good relationships internally?
Recently one of our underwriters came along to some of my broker appointments. This was a great way to share our experiences and see how each other’s role worked. Plus the brokers really enjoyed being able to tap into both of our expertise. Our residential mortgages are processed across two head office sites – Bradford and Peterborough. I have worked extensively at the Bradford office, and I’m now really enjoying building relationships with colleagues in Peterborough.
What’s the strangest question you’ve ever been asked?
The most unusual question a broker has ever asked is if we have a restriction on the retirement age for borrowers working in the adult entertainment industry.
The answer, by the way, is no – we treat all our customers fairly and don’t penalise against customers working in particular industries.
And finally, what did you want to be growing up?
I wanted to be a primary school teacher, but after doing a work placement in a school I decided it wasn’t for me. Then, at the age of 17, I joined Yorkshire Building Society, of which Accord is part – and the rest is history.
