Which locations and how many advisers and broker firms do you cover in your role at Afin Bank?
I currently cover the Midlands and the North, but this is rapidly growing as we work with more and more brokers.
What personal talent/skill is most valuable in doing your job?
It’s important to be friendly and approachable to brokers to build a good relationship. It’s important to show that you care about their clients and are working hard to secure the mortgage they need.
What’s the hardest part of your job?
As a new lender, we are not only growing our adviser network, but also fine-tuning our proposition, underwriting and customer service to ensure we offer the right kind of mortgages borrowers need. That involves a lot of work and dealing with lots of teams in the bank, so the biggest challenge is keeping all the balls in the air and keeping everyone happy.
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Are there any (popular) misconceptions about your job/role?
I’ve been on both sides of this role, first as a broker and now as a BDM, so I have seen all the hard work involved in helping a borrower get a mortgage, particularly if it’s a more complex case. For people outside the industry, they might think it’s just about meeting people and having a chat. They may think that it’s an easy job, but we all know it really isn’t – but we love it.
What’s the best bit of career-related advice you’ve ever been given? Who gave it to you?
Never give up. It came from my mum, who is 85, and she still has a go at most things, including getting up the steps to change lightbulbs. She always says, “never give up” and “take one day at a time”, which is a great philosophy.
What has been the biggest lesson you’ve learned in your career?
To expect the unexpected and that going the extra mile wins brownie points with everyone – team, client and family.
Another big surprise from my career in wealth management is that the wealthy don’t always look wealthy – never judge a book by its cover. Successful people don’t always have the expected trappings of the rich. And that’s been particularly useful with Afin’s high-net-worth (HNW) mortgage, where we are able to help people who look great on paper because of their assets, but don’t fit the rigid income-based affordability model of many mainstream lenders, because they have a modest income.
How do you keep up to date with developments in the market?
I read all the industry news and make sure I keep up to date and have regular chats with my colleagues in the industry.
What is the most quirky/unique property deal you’ve been involved in?
A remortgage on a property with alpacas in the garden that the client used instead of having a lawnmower.
It was a former farm that had been converted into a residential property, but it still had a 10-acre garden with a lot of lawn to mow, so alpacas seemed the easiest option for keeping the lawn trim.
When the surveyor came to value the property, he started taking photographs of the alpacas as well, not just the buildings and land. It turned out his wife was a big fan of alpacas. It must have been a good sign, because the mortgage was approved.
Tell us about your trickiest case – what happened and how did you resolve the problem(s)?
When I was a broker, I had a client who was living in France, but they had to relocate to the UK because their son was ill. They were buying a property in the UK while selling their French place, and of course, needed to move quickly because they were worried about their son.
The client was retired and did not have a standard pension, so the lender for the UK property was not sure at first. However, with a bit of perseverance and good communication between me and the lender on the borrower’s behalf, we were able to get the mortgage approved and my client was able to move back to this country and take care of their son.
Thankfully, after 12 months, the son’s health had improved and my client was delighted to be back living in the UK.
If you could do any other job in the property sector, what would it be and why?
I’d quite like to be an estate agent for HNW clients, as I love seeing luxury properties.
How do you think your job will change in five years?
I think people will always need a BDM with specialist lending as it’s never a tick-box exercise. While artificial intelligence (AI) can assist with some of the basic stuff, it will never replace the human impact of a person who cares about the borrower looking for a mortgage. All Afin’s mortgages are personally underwritten, primarily because automated processes don’t work for non-standard cases, so I don’t see technology changing that any time soon.
If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
To magic dinner for the family on to the table after a day’s work.
What do you do to unwind?
I do yoga and swim every day.
And finally, what’s the strangest question you’ve ever been asked?
When I worked at Lloyds, I offered a client a coffee at an appointment. He requested a beer, to which I advised that we didn’t offer beer in the bank, only tea and coffee. He promptly pulled a can of beer out of his coat pocket and opened it.
