It’s no easy ride being a broker and there are plenty of obstacles and challenges constantly being thrown in your path.
I spend my days visiting mortgage intermediaries up and down the country, so I hear first-hand about the things that really wind them up.
Below are the top five things that brokers tell me drive them up the wall:
1) Being kept on hold for AGES
This is one of the biggest bugbears of brokers and you often tell me it makes your blood boil.
Lenders are the worst culprits, with brokers telling me that they are frequently kept on hold for half an hour trying to speak to certain lenders about a case (although others have really improved their service in the last couple of years).
Time is money and many of you waste a lot of your precious time hanging on the telephone.
2) Products pulled at short notice
Lenders refreshing their product ranges? Great.
Lenders pulling their products on Friday evening and giving you four hours’ notice? Not so great.
Time and again brokers bemoan lenders giving them too little notice about product withdrawals. It not only puts the pressure on to get the applications in, it also makes you look unprofessional if you have to go back to your client to tell them they have missed out.
3) Conveyancers causing delays
Everyone wants the client’s purchase to go through smoothly and it can be frustrating when a deal is delayed because of issues that have arisen during the conveyancing process. It’s made doubly annoying when you are stonewalled if you try to phone for an explanation.
Poor communication is never acceptable, especially if you have referred the business, so take it elsewhere in the future.
As for delays, conveyancers get paid on completion too, so they don’t hold things up for no reason, but those doing a thorough job will put the client’s best interests first.
4) Clients only telling you half the story
Your dream clients walk through the door. They want a mortgage with a lender that you know is broker-friendly, they are interested in associated insurances and they have well-paid jobs and a handsome deposit. Everything is stacking up nicely.
That is until you hear back from the lender. Your client has failed their credit score because of a history of bad credit that they conveniently forgot to mention. It’s so frustrating and, if you can’t place them elsewhere, a complete and utter waste of your time.
5) Red tape, red tape and more red tape
Brokers have been operating in a regulated market since 2004, but the passage of time doesn’t make the burden of regulation any less onerous.
Compliance costs time and money, and no matter how confident you are about your systems and processes, there’s nothing like a looming ARROW visit to get the pulse racing.
What have I missed? What things drive you crazy about being a broker? Let us know in the comments box below.
