My greatest achievement was selling my mortgage business – Flavin

My greatest achievement was selling my mortgage business – Flavin

Flavin became a mortgage adviser by chance, after complaining to a practice principle about his role in the store maintenance sector. It was suggested that try his hand as a mortgage adviser.

The partners of the firm he went on to work for eventually split and Flavin moved up to the position as partner. After his colleague retired, Flavin set up his first firm, Portfolio Financial Management which covered investments, pensions, mortgages and protection.

Flavin split that company in 2010 and established Portfolio Financial Management as a purely independent financial adviser (IFA) company, with a new company, Zing Mortgages being formed to deal with mortgages and protection.

Flavin said the “real success began” when he deregistered as a mortgage broker and became a business owner. 

“When things get tough, you don’t run out and start writing more mortgages yourself. You actually have to go out and find more business for the mortgage brokers you’ve employed. So that was a real turning point,” he added. 

Flavin said the firm started to focus on winning customer service awards as it wanted this to be its unique selling point. 

After some time, he felt the traditional mortgage model was “due for a change” so Flavin sold Zing Mortgages and set up his next business, Mortgages Online. 

He said the new advice firm was to be more centred on the integration of Open Banking as he saw that was the direction the market was headed. 

Flavin said he could see “massive opportunities” in Open Banking integration combined with integrated access into other linked services to streamline the application process and thought he should be the “first to the party”.

“But I think the party still hasn’t started and it’s three years on,” he added. 

Flavin said Open Banking would make the mortgage process easier but noted there was a “fear of change” and a worry that if that process was automated, it would take away the value of a mortgage adviser. 

He said he envisioned Open Banking allowing lenders to focus on vanilla cases, while advisers took on more complex applications. 

This was Flavin’s vision but when the pandemic hit, he “lost interest in the industry”. 

“I just thought ‘I’ve had enough of mortgages’. I’d been in it for 20 years,” he added. 

Flavin sold Mortgages Online at a slight loss “because I just wanted it gone”. 

While he ran Zing Mortgages, he had a business coach that helped him develop a business plan to build an exit in 10 years. He achieved this in 11 years. 

He then had the idea to become a business coach himself and worked for a global firm for a short time. It was here that he met Phil Ball who would become his business partner at Grow Partnership. 

Ball told Flavin not to turn his back on his knowledge and understanding of the mortgage sector as this would help business owners in this market grow.

 

Misguided beginnings 

Flavin said many advisers set up their business because they were dissatisfied with their company and felt they could go it alone with their client bank. He said they often did not realise how hard it was to generate new business while running a company.

“They might take on an admin and then they’re stuck or don’t know what the next steps are,” he added. 

Flavin said: “At no point during that process have they ever had any business coaching. They’ve had coaching to become a mortgage adviser but not a business owner. 

“You ask them about their marketing strategy, cash flow forecast, their operations flow charting, how they’re ensuring repeatable business and they haven’t got a clue. When things get tough, they’ll write more mortgages because their assumption is that the business keeps 100 per cent of it.” 

He added: “When you deregulate and become a business owner, you’ve got to go out there and find more work for your staff. Also, when things get hard, the clubs and networks offer advisers more product coaching, get them to sell protection, understand the niche markets but that’s not what they need. They know that already.” 

Flavin said in these instances, it would be more beneficial for advisers to be educated on business strategies and get to a stage where “they’re not a mortgage broker that owns a business. They’re a business owner that just happens to do mortgages”. 

He said many brokers became owners with a certain lifestyle in mind but little insight of systems or processes, nor could they say the cost of acquiring a client. 

“They’ve spent years understanding compliance, understanding product choice, understanding the cross-selling of protection, but none of that falls under part of the business,” Flavin said. 

Growth Partnership offers a 100 per cent money back guarantee which Flavin said it was able to do because “there are such simple, fundamental changes that you can make so a business is successful almost overnight”. 

Flavin said it was formulaic and once people understood the formula, it was easy to replicate. 

 

A valuable company 

Flavin said mortgage brokers who became business owners should work towards creating a company that would be saleable in the future. 

All owners assume they will be able to sell their company when ready but “no one is looking to buy a job,” he said, adding that a firm needed structure, procedure and assets that would be valuable to a potential buyer. Flavin said many brokers considered their client bank to be valuable, but without certainty that these were repeat business it was simply “a list of names”. 

A firm’s technology and systems can also be attractive, he added. 

He said regardless of whether this was the actual goal for a business owner, they should keep this in mind as it would keep them honest in what they are creating as well as take them out of that pivotal position.

Business owners must continue learning, whether by reading books or listening to podcasts, Flavin said. 

“You’re either growing or dying, there’s no standing still,” he added. 

Flavin said things were moving on and he noted that video content was becoming a preferred way for consumers to engage with firms. He said this could be one way to capture potential clients early on in their mortgage journey. 

Owners of mortgage advice firms should consider setting up an IFA division, Flavin said, as these tended to have more value than the mortgage side because of the funds under management. 

He added: “When I sold the businesses, I got more for one broker in the IFA arm than I did for a 14-broker mortgage firm.” 

 

Taking care of number one 

Flavin said his greatest achievement was selling Mortgages Online because while it was at a loss, the decision was best for his mental health. 

“Success can be measured in different ways,” he added. 

He said as a business owner, it was important to understand that “everything has a cost”, so deciding to be self-employed and retain all the business sometimes meant sacrificing family time or wellbeing. 

Coaching could also help business owners with any work-related worries, Flavin said, as many did not want to concern their family or employees so needed a neutral outlet. 

“We’ll sit and listen to what we say and then give some sort of constructive feedback whether it be criticism or whether it be something more positive but it’s that independent voice,” he added. 

Grow Partnership also holds group coaching sessions which can allow business owners to share experiences and realise their worries are not uncommon. 

Flavin said: “It is quite an insular existence, being a business owner, and we don’t share experiences enough. Sharing some of your wins for that week is great but it’s just as important to share the struggles you’ve had.”

Coaching works because it keeps business owners accountable, Flavin said, by making sure they keep to their goals and timelines in the same way a fitness trainer would. 

“We all attend seminars where we learn something we want to implement or have great ideas that will really transform our business but, everyday life happens, we go back to the daily firefighting and nothing changes,” he added. “By making sure you hold the business owner accountable and keep them focused on achieving their goals and timelines in the same way a fitness trainer would, they start seeing real progress in the fitness of their business as well as their own wellbeing.”

Broker wellbeing is for life, not just for Covid – Musial

Broker wellbeing is for life, not just for Covid – Musial

Fast forward just a few months and that virus became the Covid-19 pandemic that went on to shut down the entire country and practically the world. To its credit, Just Mortgages identified that greater support was needed to help brokers through such a stressful time.  

As a trainer and mental health first aider, it was my task to look at our wellbeing approach and how training could be improved. We had a good foundation through our employee assistance programme and our partnership with Health Assured. This gave brokers a confidential service to access specialist support whenever they needed it. However, the service wasn’t well known to brokers, so our first job was publicising this and its many benefits. 

In the meantime, Just Mortgages continued to grow the self-employed division and Just Wealth launched later that same year.  

There was a clear gap for self-employed advisers, so we worked closely with the provider to launch an individual assistance programme to allow those in the two remaining divisions to access the same level of independent support.  

 

Continued evolution 

With both programmes continuing to deliver real value for brokers and the pandemic now seemingly behind us, it would have been very easy to say our work was done. However, the trends were telling us that brokers still needed extra support and highlighted areas such as stress, anxiety and loneliness as key challenges.  

So alongside our third-party support network, we launched comprehensive wellbeing training through our digital ‘My Learning Space’ platform. This consists of 24 modules covering all areas of mental health and wellbeing support including modules on stress, depression and anxiety – which is the most accessed among our brokers. These are all available online whenever they are needed. 

The most recent module provides menopause support, which is too often underserved as it’s unfairly seen as a taboo subject. It covers how it works, the impact and the support that is available pre-menopause, during menopause and also for partners too. This includes support from Health Assured as part of our programmes.  

The initial feedback so far has been incredibly positive.  

We’re now in a really healthy position where everyone through the door receives wellbeing training as part of their induction, as well as management and business principles. This is critical as it gives these principal brokers the necessary skills to spot signs within their own teams and to act accordingly.  

After all, good health and wellbeing can be a core enabler of both adviser and business performance. 

 

Supporting clients  

Rather than a fluffy subject or a hangover from Covid, we must make sure that wellbeing remains a core pillar of learning and development.  

In truth, the current market conditions make wellbeing support as vital as it’s ever been. Volatile demand, complex cases and drawn-out transaction times are still a great source of stress, tension and anxiety for brokers. That’s not even considering the financial implications facing brokers with fewer completion cycles and their own cost of living pressures.  

In addition to accessing support with their own financial wellbeing, brokers also need to stay close to clients as they feel the pressures of higher living costs and a higher interest rate environment.  

As part of the holistic approach that make brokers so valuable to borrowers, our focus on financial wellbeing identifies the support available from each of our lenders and providers, enabling brokers to signpost clients much more effectively and nurture long lasting relationships.  

We’ve been encouraged by the appetite for the available support, with engagement and activations increasing with every new module launched. Rather than just ‘drop and go’ or death by PowerPoint, we’re constantly looking to innovate and identify needs to expand the service further and ensure it makes a difference.  

After all, a team of happy and healthy brokers is good news for all involved. 

Access FS wants to be among the best of the best mortgage brokers – Wilkinson

Access FS wants to be among the best of the best mortgage brokers – Wilkinson

Wilkinson joined the sector 15 years ago after closing down his Wales-based restaurant – A Touch of Class – following the birth of his daughter. 

“It was quite a nice restaurant, we had a few famous visitors too. We spent the first Christmas after our daughter was born at work, and that’s when we decided ‘we can’t do this’. So we sold the business and that’s when I got to be a mortgage broker. 

“I trained in Wales then moved to north London, where I worked as a mortgage broker with various networks for a number of years.” 

Access Financial Services began as a one-man operation in 2017 and reached its 100-broker milestone last year. 

After working as a self-employed broker, Wilkinson wanted to move on to the next stage which was helping more brokers come into the industry, and pass on the knowledge he had gained as a mentor. 

Wilkinson said: “When I first joined the industry, I was lost. I didn’t know what to do, how to speak to my first customer – anything. Through perseverance, I managed to push through and learn as I went along, but some people need extra help.” 

“That’s how it started, and it’s grown organically since then,” he added.  

 

Company culture 

Wilkinson said the core values of Access Financial Services had stayed the same, but it had since “developed and grown legs”. 

He said his firm was stood out, as many brokers had told him that networks treated them “like a robot, or a number, and all they’re bothered about is compliance or the quality of the file. Pointing out where you haven’t got it right or haven’t done it how they expect. 

“Don’t get me wrong, we are strict on compliance as it’s the most important thing. But we do it in a way where we make sure the broker understands what they’re doing and why they need to do it. 

“Once they understand why we’re doing the things that we do, they support it and embrace it.” 

Wilkinson wants to see people who join the sector stay in it and commended his firm for having a high employee retention rate. 

As for his managerial style, Wilkinson said he was “not a micromanager”, adding: “I hate micromanaging and you never get the best out of people by doing that.  

“I would give a set of goals, I would give an objective but how my employees get there is entirely up the them. It brings out the best in people, and they might come up with a solution that’s far better than what I could have ever come up with. 

“And it makes them feel like there’s ownership.” 

He added: “There’s a lot of love, not just from the brokers but from my head office team. 

“There’s a lot of love for Access. They all really love and care for the business because they all feel like they have an element of ownership and are equally responsible for it. 

“And I do develop my team. I’ve taken on members of staff that have been at a junior level that are brought through the ranks and are now at senior level.” 

 

Shifting the market 

Personally, Wilkinson described himself as a “disruptor” to the sector, pointing to his campaign to combat estate agent conditional selling.

“I’m new to this industry, not just from a broker’s perspective but from a business owner’s perspective. Other business owners have been in the industry for 10, 20 or 30 years but I’m coming in completely fresh.  

“My aspirations are to get to 1,000 mortgage brokers and be up there with the best of the best. 

“A fresh approach, a fresh set of eyes, a new look at the industry. I’d love to have an influence in the future of and the shape of the financial services industry in the UK. 

“In five to 10 years’ time, it will be good for me to have that influence. 

“Financial services is changing a lot, and it’s changing very quickly. A fresh face, a fresh pair of eyes or a fresh mind in the industry will help us see things differently.” 

 

Branching out into wealth managment

Access Financial Services is also preparing to set up a wealth management division. 

“As a mortgage broker, I’ve always hated the fact that my client can go somewhere else for other products. For one, I felt there was a risk that with someone else they would be marketed for mortgages and protection which would mean I lose the customer.  

“It’s also in the interest of the customer as their data ends up being spread across multiple firms. It’s about making sure the data stays in one place,” he said. 

Wilkinson said Access FS was also working on a direct-to-consumer product which was penned to launch in 2024 and expected to have a “massive impact in the industry”. 

 

Broker development 

As well as welcoming experienced advisers, Wilkinson plans to expand the firm through its broker academy. 

He said the programme which was launched last year had a “positive uptake” and led to the recruitment of Peter Phillips as its head of training. 

Wilkinson said: “He’s developing some CeMAP courses so that we can take somebody from ‘cradle to grave’. He’s also developing some wealth courses and other financial services courses so that actually if somebody does want a career within the industry, you know we can actually take them through a whole career. So, someone can start off as unqualified and work their way through to becoming an independent financial adviser.  

“We’re still in the early days of development but there are a lot of things Peter is working on to make the academy a success.” 

While he admitted he did not want to speak about it like it was a novelty, Wilkinson said his firm was diverse which worked well at effectively reaching otherwise excluded communities. 

“It helps educate people because there are communities that don’t understand a lot about the UK financial services industry. They don’t know what you need to do to get a mortgage, what life insurance is, because they haven’t been brought up knowing how the UK financial services market does things. 

“This year, we’re concentrating a lot on solidifying the academy, building up the academy and supporting our existing advisers. 

“A lot of them that do, want to go into from protection to mortgages. So, we’ll be working on that towards the end of the year as well as introducing the wealth side of the business, then the direct-to-consumer product.” 

Get ready to reclaim your GI sales from comparison websites

Get ready to reclaim your GI sales from comparison websites

 

His points offer advisers great reasons to include insurance in their conversation.

1. “From 1 Jan, car and home insurers must charge new and existing customers the same”

The ruling to ban price walking is the single biggest change in regulation the industry has seen in years. It’s also the single biggest opportunity for advisers to reclaim vital market share that was lost to price comparison websites.

Intermediaries can now offer home insurance without having to worry about being out manoeuvred by insurers on comparison sites selling policies at a first-year loss, only to significantly raise them in years two, three, four and beyond.

And thanks to the innovation of adviser technology the home insurance application can be seamlessly integrated into the mortgage advice process, giving advisers an easy opportunity to fully advise on policies based on an individual’s needs opposed to just comparing on price.

 

2. “Rates may change before January, so checking now, while they’re still cheap, is safest – you can switch even if not at renewal”

It’s vitally important that advisers are savvy and watch out for insurance companies who are attempting last-minute land grabs by reducing their new business prices to get additional clients onto their books ahead of the new rulings coming into force. This will, almost certainly, lead to sizeable price hikes next year when new business rates adjust and must be equal to the renewal prices. This is a reputational risk to you, your firm and a customer retention risk.

 

3. Check for deals comparison sites miss

The FCA’s new rulings will give advisers the opportunity to guarantee fair value and, by intertwining insurance into the home buying process, they can remove a lot of the customer’s hassle of comparing deals through multiple comparison sites. By using their own knowledge of the market, coupled with information on an individual’s needs, advisers can provide invaluable advice and ultimately the policy that has the features the customer really needs, not just the lowest price.

 

4. The danger of being enticed by cashback and vouchers

If companies are offering cashback, vouchers, or free tickets for signing up it could well be because the product they are offering is simply not up to scratch. The importance needs to be placed on looking at individual policies and whether they specifically meet the end client’s needs, as opposed to what policy comes at the lowest cost or with the highest value voucher.

Fortunately, the new rules also make it practically impossible to incentivise in this way as the value of the voucher has to be calculated in next year’s price. Incentives will only ever be a short-term sweetener which will quickly sour within 12 months.

 

5. Firms shouldn’t penalise renewals that aren’t three weeks early

In Money Saving Expert’s own research, it’s found that car and home insurance customers can both make savings if they buy early with some insurers.

This means time poor customers, who are typically juggling busy lives and don’t necessarily renew until days before their current policy is up, can be negatively impacted by algorithms that make premiums more expensive.

By using insurance providers with a clear fair pricing strategy, advisers can give their clients the comfort of knowing regardless of when they renew, they will always be offered the best available new business price and won’t be penalised for not renewing weeks in advance.

 

6. “Ensure the policy is right for you and know your rights if you’re unfairly treated/your claim is rejected”

Or, save your customer from the pain of rejected claims, difficult to cancel, hidden fees and present them with a Defaqto 5* policy that is fairly priced, so both you and your client have full confidence they’re properly protected.

The intermediary market can quote, configure and buy a policy in under 60 seconds or, even better, the customer can complete the purchase from you through self-fulfilment.

Stamp duty: Time to be bold and eliminate this blight on a properly functioning housing market – Dudley BS

Stamp duty: Time to be bold and eliminate this blight on a properly functioning housing market – Dudley BS

 

 

However, when a specific tax acts as a brake on the development of a vital industry sector, then the value it represents as a revenue source for the Treasury must be called into question.

Over the years, Dudley Building Society has been a consistent voice urging reform of stamp duty on house purchases. Now we only have to look at the jolt given to the housing market where, leaving aside the pent up demand to seek more space after the claustrophobia of lockdowns, the Chancellor’s decision to offer a stamp duty holiday acted as a considerable incentive for the market surge.

It put beyond doubt the deep loathing for a tax which, even with its allowances for first-time buyers, is and will continue to be a disincentive to purchase or move, affecting every social and economic group.

 

A tax on movement

In our opinion and in many others, it has become a tax on mobility, which has ramifications for everyone with ambitions to own or move for career purposes. Equally, older property owners are put off moving to smaller residences which would free up ‘frozen’ capital into the economy and release housing stock back into the system.

SDLT is now the biggest brake on social mobility at both ends of the spectrum.

Of course, the desire to own property or move up the ladder will continue even after the stamp duty land tax (SDLT) holiday is over, with senior officials at the Bank of England confident that while the market will slow down, the property market will carry on as before.

However, is the tax revenue significant enough to maintain the current status quo? Figures show that SDLT receipts in the United Kingdom amounted to approximately £8.66bn in 2020/21, compared with £11.60bn in the previous year.

Substitute taxes to make up the shortfall, such as an annual tax on property with none of the current social welfare impact of SDLT, have been talked about. Equally some form of annual local tax such as a property or land value tax would provide fiscal incentives to local authorities to release more land for residential development. However, that would be seen as an extra ‘Council Tax’, just with a different name.

 

The VAT gamble

Surely it is time to think laterally. With all of this activity in the market, it is worth remembering that a healthy housing market improves consumer confidence and leads to higher spending.

I have no doubt the Treasury can predict the numbers more precisely, but isn’t it more equitable to collect VAT receipts from goods people want to buy, than to collect a tax that house buyers always resent? It is already noticeable that one of the few success stories to come out of lockdown, apart from home food delivery, is the increase in spending on DIY and home improvement because of the temporary halt on stamp duty.

It will take a leap of faith to abolish SDLT and then wait to see whether VAT receipts can make up the shortfall. However, blindly following the same taxation route with SDLT will only lead to further loss of mobility and exacerbate the long term disincentives which were already growing before the SDLT holiday.

 

The FCA’s Consumer Duty regulation is ‘gilding the lily’ – Paradigm

The FCA’s Consumer Duty regulation is ‘gilding the lily’ – Paradigm

 

Call it what you will but I can’t help feeling that the FCA’s most recent attempts to ‘beef‘ up its consumer protection in retail financial services, is a version of the above.

The regulator is now calling for feedback on its Consumer Duty regulation which will bring with it another set of principles, rules and guidance designed to do what the existing regulation is already supposed to do.

I wouldn’t say we’re close to getting to a point where the FCA is making work for itself but consider this part of the consultation – the regulator wants feedback on whether firms ‘must act to deliver good outcomes for retail clients‘ or ‘must act in the best interests of retail clients‘.

Semantics, much? The FCA suggests there is a difference in tone here. I’m trying, for the life of me, to work out what it is and how, in any, way, shape or form it really matters or differs from the existing regulation.

 

Working in your client’s best interest

There’s no doubting there’s a requirement for financial services regulation which insists on firms working in their client’s best interests or delivering good outcomes for the customers. Absolutely.

Which is why we have numerous layers of such regulation already. It’s why we have the Treating Customers Fairly principle; it’s why, as AMI’s Robert Sinclair pointed out in this very publication, “They have all the tools in their toolbox to do it already. They don’t need more ideas, concepts or principles.“

If this repetition or development of regulation to replace rules and guidance which already exists is a major part of the FCA’s workstreams, then no wonder we are seeing budgets rise and the fees charged to regulated firms increase.

We should also seek to answer from where this work is coming from. By that, I mean is it based on a mortgage market, for example, that repeatedly gets it wrong? That does not get good outcomes for clients? That is inundated with hundreds, if not, thousands of complaints to intermediary firms week-in week-out?

You’ll have already guessed my answer to those questions. Of course it’s not. The number of complaints about residential mortgages upheld by FOS was actually down last year on 2019.

 

The endless paper trail

So, what will this mean for firms in the future? Robert seems to think more bureaucracy and documentation to evidence compliance, with firms not materially changing anything. The fact being they are already doing this anyway.

I’m all for ensuring consumers are protected, that regulation works in their best interests and that advisory firms are upholding the very highest standards. In a way, the FCA should be proud of its record here because, when it comes to the mortgage market, that is exactly what it has achieved.

But, more regulation for regulation’s sake, is not the way to move forward. This further round reminds me of that old advert about littering with the teenager throwing rubbish on the floor and saying, “It’s alright, my Dad says it gives people jobs.“

Even more galling here is that the mess didn‘t exist in the first place, and advisory firms are being told to use their investment and resources to tidy things up.

 

Time to spread the word to all clients on equity release – Wilson

Time to spread the word to all clients on equity release – Wilson

 

That is certainly a credible picture to paint, and it’s clear that homeowners are now much more likely to be aware of equity release and the options it provides.

That said, further research from SunLife reveals this is by no means universal, and I would probably suggest that for every new client we have that is taking out a later life product, we have thousands upon thousands of older homeowners who are effectively in the dark when it comes to the options available to them.

The research revealed that, of a survey of 1,000 over-50s homeowners, nine out of 10 were (at best) unsure of how equity release worked, with common misconceptions coming to the fore around how it might mean they lose their home, not knowing the cash lump sum was tax-free, and believing children might be liable to pay off any debts somehow left behind.

 

Education, education, education

 

So, even those who are clearly in the potential borrower demographic for equity release need educating on the possibilities, the actual key parts of the product and what it means for them, and the roadmap through to advice.

However, I’m also very much of the opinion that this is not a solution purely for one type of homeowner – those living in high-value homes. From my perspective, later life lending need is pretty much classless in that there tends to be a requirement across all types of homeowners.

I’ve talked a lot in the past about how incomprehensible it is to me that we have pensioners sitting in properties worth hundreds of thousands of pounds feeling they can’t put the heating on when they need it because it costs too much. Or who are putting up with a standard of living far below what they could actually afford if they were provided with advice where they could access that equity.

By the same token, I absolutely get the growing draw towards later life lending/equity release from those living in much higher-valued properties who, for example, want to access their equity to help children with their own deposits or want to carry out renovations, or indeed want to use that money for experiences, new cars or holidays.

 

Paying for care

 

And then we have those who may simply want to utilise their equity to supplement their pension provision, or to ensure they can afford for long-term care needs for themselves or their partners.
In a way, equity release or later life lending can provide a solution for older homeowners who sit at all levels of income and housing wealth, who have a variety of needs which range from the basic to, what some might describe, as opulent. That in itself is the beauty of these products, that with the right advice of course, they can be used to provide for any number of client needs.

However, perhaps the biggest opportunity for advisers in this space is the sheer number of homeowners who simply don’t know what they don’t know; who have a need but no understanding of what they could achieve, or that their greatest fears about equity release/later life lending are simply unfounded. There lies the big opportunity for our sector and one that if we can focus on is likely to drive significant business growth for all.

 

‘Mental health will become a bigger part of the conversation going forward’ – One to One with Sesame’s Michele Golunska

‘Mental health will become a bigger part of the conversation going forward’ – One to One with Sesame’s Michele Golunska

 

 

VH: What evidence have you seen at Sesame that mortgage brokers are under strain/have been more stressed than usual during the pandemic?

Michele Golunska: In response to the pandemic, we saw an increase in calls to our helpdesk from brokers asking for assistance. This covered a wide range of needs, from understanding changes in government support to helping brokers navigate their way through the high level of changes in product criteria and affordability that were taking place. This was in addition to other information we were gathering, such as product providers telling us about an increasing number of customer claims due to mental health issues, with more people suffering from higher levels of anxiety and stress through this challenging period.

What this was telling us is that if more of our customers are dealing with mental health issues, then it’s likely that more mortgage brokers will be dealing with these same issues too. Health and wellbeing, home schooling, social restrictions, worries about cashflow and workplace issues – are all things that can lead to increased levels of anxiety. Some of these issues might only be short term, but it will still have an impact.

VH: As a company, what have you done to help deal with the stress or ease the situation?

To help firms trade safely and look after their staff and customers through the pandemic, Sesame Bankhall Group launched its Covid-19 Adviser Support Hub in March 2020 to provide advisers with a wide range of practical information and useful tools. The first thing we wanted advisers to focus on was their personal wellbeing and this was therefore the first section on the Hub. It contains hints and tips to help advisers and their customers to stay healthy – both physically and mentally. This includes support articles, guides, and resources to help advisers and their customers to feel more at ease about the uncertainty created by the pandemic.

The success of the Hub exceeded our expectations and led to the development of a follow-up Bounce Back Hub, which was launched in May 2020. Both hubs have so far been viewed over 40,000 times by advisers from across the financial services industry. As a result of this success and the adviser engagement it’s created, a decision has been taken to integrate this content and the topics covered into future adviser support activity. This will ensure there’s a continuing presence and home for this valuable content.

VH: How much obligation do you feel to support your brokers?

We feel that we have a duty and responsibility to raise awareness of the challenges brokers face on a day-to-day basis, many of which were amplified during the pandemic. Attitudes in society have undoubtedly changed to a point where mental health is viewed by many in the same way that they see a physical impairment. Something that needs to be understood and treated, rather than ignored. And certainly not something that’s seen as a sign of weakness. Coronavirus and the period we’re living through has brought all of this into sharper focus by heightening the issues that were already there. At Sesame Bankhall Group we’ve ensured that brokers have access to the right support when required, and that’s something we’ve been working hard to put in place through various initiatives.

VH: Have there been any cases where you felt the need to refer them for help or extra support?

In April 2020, we took steps to enhance our health and wellbeing support for our Sesame members. We funded the cost of member support services with the specialist independent provider Care first. This is an assistance service that our group already offers to all our employees. This move provided our members with personal access to helpful material, along with a team of professionally qualified counsellors who offer expert health and wellbeing support.

The initiative with Care first was just one part of a much wider package of support. We’ve worked closely with advisers throughout the last year, circulating information on financial support packages, and running working groups and clinics to understand the common root causes of anxiety and stress within our member and client base. This includes detailed work with some of our member firms to understand their business solvency and key financial triggers, assisting with the creation of action plans to improve the financial resilience of their firm.

We’ve also run sessions with advisers supporting several key topics which bring out struggles connected to mental health. For example, hosting an industry session for women that included a discussion about the menopause. This reflects our view about the importance of supporting and contributing to the sharing of lived experiences.

We’ve also bolstered our support for advisers in areas such as vulnerable customers. This issue was already high up on the industry’s agenda, but it’s been heightened further by the Covid-19 pandemic. The impact of the crisis has pushed more people into the potentially vulnerable category. It means that an adviser’s role in making sure that clients make the right long-term financial decisions is more important than ever. It also serves to highlight the steps that advisory firms need to take to ensure that both their customers and their business are protected.

VH: In a partnership/business arrangement like the one Sesame has with its ARs, what part does mental health play?

A higher level of mental health claims tells us that more people in society are suffering. It’s therefore about people feeling comfortable talking about these issues. Financial advisers are just one business community amongst many in the UK, who have the same personal and business concerns as everyone else. However, what’s significant is that advisers are looking after their customers too through, and as we emerge from, this challenging time. More advisers have worked remotely due to the coronavirus crisis, posing initial challenges but also opportunities for how advisory firms operate. It’s very important to get the balance right to ensure advisers take care of themselves and their clients, as well as continuing to trade safely as a business.

Across our industry and society in general, the desire to understand the issues and challenges around mental health has developed significantly. This includes recognition of heightened skills and the creation of safe environments to deal with these delicate issues, which help to open-up conversations rather than close them down. Only by understanding some of these issues better can we provide educated insight, skills and resources that are required to help people access the assistance they need. The one thing we know for certain is that mental health will become a bigger part of the conversation going forward – between all of us.

Product transfers: Benefit to the customer or the lender?

Product transfers: Benefit to the customer or the lender?

 

Well done to them, and why shouldn‘t they, after all they are commercial enterprises and they recognise a good client when they see one…certainly for an existing borrower who has proven a good risk.

Of course, this represents a challenge for advisers to support their client, for ensuring a hasty client decision on a product transfer doesn’t exclude the adviser – with all the consequences that entails – but that it also doesn‘t end up costing the client money.

 

The value of a mortgage broker

 

I saw a recent post on LinkedIn from Malcolm Davidson at UK Moneyman, which highlighted just such an issue, and reiterated just how important the role of the adviser is within a product transfer situation.

Malcolm wrote about a recent client who was presented with a product transfer option early. Unbeknownst to that client by making just a couple more mortgage payments, they would become eligible for a lower LTV product which came with a better rate, saving that client a not insignificant amount of money. His post was followed by other advisers reporting the same or similar examples.

Now, as advisers will no doubt testify, having that product transfer option ‘in the pocket‘, so to speak, can be of benefit, but by taking it early when better options will be available in just a short few months, the client could have been significantly worse off.

In a two-year period where house prices have tended to rise, and where many people have been overpaying on their mortgage, this next product maturity could be a good opportunity to not only benefit from those outcomes, but also the highly competitive mortgage market.

The client mentioned above – by making those two mortgage payments – became eligible for an 85 per cent LTV mortgage, when the initial product transfer option was at a higher LTV, and therefore higher price.

 

Incoming wall of mortgage business

 

IMLA recently suggested that there are 700,000 mortgages set to mature this year, and if the above doesn’t highlight the importance of continued advice for existing borrowers, I’m not sure what does.

As Malcolm highlighted, the client was completely unaware of what could be achieved and any early decision to product transfer would have probably rendered them unable to secure that better deal.

It seems highly unlikely that lenders are going to make their existing borrowers aware of such options directly, so without adviser intervention, they would have paid more for the next couple of years than they needed to.

Much is made about the smooth process, the quickness of transfers, and the fact that, for example, the client doesn’t need to pay for conveyancing, etc, but advisers must still hammer home the benefits of advice in this and any other market interaction. Ongoing communication especially in the build up to maturity has to focus on clients not taking the first product option on offer and giving the adviser the opportunity to look at what can be achieved.

Product transfers continue to take a bigger share. As an industry we, and the borrowers involved, need to ensure that as many as possible are only taken with advice that shouldn‘t be undervalued.

 

 

Mariella Frostrup: Women in the mortgage industry must ‘be unafraid, unapologetic and angry’ – WEFF Annual Lunch

Mariella Frostrup: Women in the mortgage industry must ‘be unafraid, unapologetic and angry’ – WEFF Annual Lunch

 

 

She is an advocate of the 5/2 anger diet: five days spent being angry and two days keeping a lid on things. Frostrup admits that the two off days are a struggle, but she’s far from apologetic. In her view, women apologise far too much.

 

Speaking up

Mariella Frostrup has written for national newspapers, fronted Panorama and made a cameo appearance on Absolutely Fabulous, but she is perhaps best known for her gravel-voiced presenting on BBC radio.

Fittingly, as guest speaker at October’s Women’s Executive Finance Forum annual lunch on 10 October, she urged more women in the mortgage industry to find their own voices and speak up. Being shouted down, she said, is far more familiar to women than speaking up, and that needs to change.

Frostrup observed that women are too quick to understate their achievements or apologise for their opinions and the way they are expressed, playfully illustrating the point with her own introduction: “I’m not even entirely convinced that 30 years of low-level broadcasting gigs qualifies me as a high-profile woman of the media”.

Addressing the room of WEFF members, female and male, Frostrup’s passionate speech beseeched women to develop the confidence to speak up and tell the world that you deserve your success.

 

Finding her voice

Frostrup found her own voice through reading. She had a challenging upbringing, moving from Sweden to Ireland as a child, where she was isolated as the only non-Catholic girl in the class. Her parents’ relationship was acrimonious and ended in divorce. Her journalist father drank himself to death by the age of 44. Her mother’s subsequent boyfriend mainly engaged with a teenage Mariella by teaching her to shoot guns in the Wicklow hills.

Reading novels was Frostrup’s escape – she says the characters she found in books helped her to grow emotionally and taught her how to connect with other people.

Just before her 16th birthday she ran off to London and began her life in the capital, living in a squat off the King’s Road. She got a job in PR, before moving into TV presenting and working as a film critic and journalist. Her love of books remained undiminished.

In 2000, Frostrup was asked to be a judge of the Man Booker prize for fiction. Among her accomplishments, she has curated two books: Desire, a collection of erotic fiction and Wild Women, a celebration of female explorers.

She was inspired to write Wild Women, by the “conspiracy of silence around women explorers”.

“Their stories are incredible testaments to women’s courage, curiosity and pioneering spirits,” she said. Frostrup questioned why it should be that we have all heard of Ernest Shackleton, who failed to get the South Pole, and Christopher Columbus, who had no idea where he was and swore his crew to silence over his ignorance.

And yet Isabella Bird and Dervla Murphy, among the most famous female explorers, are not household names. “Look them up,” she added.

 

Real equality

Her career has involved taking paths in many directions, but her commitment to women’s rights has not waivered.

She first came across feminism in the seventies, at a time when many feminist women aped the characteristics and sexuality of men in order to be heard in a masculine world. Seventies bra-burning was followed by eighties power dressing in shoulder pads.

“But that’s not what equality means,” said Frostrup. It is not the world she wants her own daughter to grow up in.

“We want a brand new world. One that has the yin and yang of male and female influence,” she said.

In 2011, she set up the GREAT initiative (Gender Rights Equality Action Trust) with her husband Jason McCue and friend, human rights lawyer Karen Ruimy. The initiative aims to be a voice for change and a catalyst for real equality, something Frostrup says this country has yet to achieve, despite our laws.

Until the UK has real equality Frostrup will continue to publicly campaign for women’s rights, and tackle men in parliament and men in the media with her “volcanic rage”.

 

‘If she can see it she can be it’

Megan Rapinoe is the co-captain of the US football team. She helped to lead the squad to its fourth World Cup title this summer.

Despite her success, Rapinoe has earned herself another title. Unapologetic. A label rarely applied to men.

“She is unapologetically gay, unapologetically political, unapologetically angry,” said Frostrup, and she was criticised for daring to think she was worthy of her success when she yelled, “I deserve this” holding up her World Cup trophy.

Frostrup applauded young activist Greta Thunberg’s anger and the rage she showed when she shouted at her elders for not acting on climate change. Thunberg, said Frostrup, is unafraid to show her anger, unlike many girls or women who are scared to speak up for fear of being called hysterical or emotional. More labels reserved for females only.

These are the role models women need, said Frostrup.

A quote from The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, “if she can see it she can be it”, sums up the responsibility that men and women have to be a positive influence on young women, said Frostrup.

Women need more role models, she said, and they also need to be role models.

But the responsibility does not just lie with women. Men must be role models to their daughters, and young men, just starting out in their careers, can be powerful allies in the fight against gender inequality in the workplace.

Frostrup applauded WEFF members, men and women, for being change makers, against whom she did not have to rail, admitting that being angry is rather tiring.

She left the room with some parting advice. “On a bad day remember there is someone worse off than you. On a good day, speak out loud and proud – I deserve this.”