On a panel at Mortgage Advice Bureau’s Trailblazer’s conference in Leicester today, he said: “We really need lenders to engage and understand that the record margins they are making could be more evenly spread.”
However, he also urged the industry to take a level-headed approach to rising fees and invest them in their businesses.
“When we do get higher procuration fees, the fees should be invested in their own firms’ oversight and compliance, for example. Lenders will trust us more if they see us investing in our own businesses,” he said.
Countrywide’s financial services director Nigel Stockton said considering the cost of qualifying as a mortgage adviser, the idea a broker would give a customer the wrong advice driven by a higher fee makes no sense.
He said: “Brokers spend £1,000 to get CeMAP and a professional accreditation. Would they jeopardise that with customer bias for an extra £50? No.”
He thought procuration fees would head steadily upwards, driven by new lenders, specialist lenders and building societies although this may not impact the bigger providers, he said.
Director of intermediaries at Halifax Mike Jones refused to be drawn despite pressure from panel chair and chairman of Mortgage Solutions’ publisher AE3 Media, Bharat Sagar to say where fees would be in four years.
“Its clear fees are moving in one direction,” said Jones.
