Jarvis has held senior sales positions with Santander, Accord and most recently Pepper Money among others throughout her 20 years in the industry.
Having also tested the waters in the advice sector six years ago, Jarvis says she felt the time was right to move on from the lender side of the industry and set up her own brokerage.
“I always wanted to have my own business, I thought it would be later in my career, but I felt like there were lots of opportunities not to be missed by doing it sooner,” she says.
“I loved the national sales role and met so many people and made friends in industry, but it was long hours with lots of travel and nights away from my family and I was tired then when I was at home.
“So now is definitely the right time.”
Aiming to recruit
Jarvis will be basing herself in a local estate agency in Buckinghamshire which will serve as her initial source of leads, along with the contacts she has built up throughout her career.
She already has her mortgage advice qualifications and believes experience from a wide range of lenders will help her to develop and grow the business quickly and successfully.
“My plan is to recruit a mortgage and protection adviser within a year to be based in the estate agency full time while I concentrate on growing other lead sources and assisting my own clients,” Jarvis continues.
“Having worked for a top five high street lender, a building society and also specialist lenders, my knowledge is second to none so I would like to be known as a mortgage specialist in my local area.
“I know what lenders look for, exactly how to package a case and what it requires to get it through quickly.”
She adds: “If I can’t get a mortgage through then I don’t think there will be a lender for it.”
Jarvis’ ambitions do not end there – she is hoping to get a second adviser and administration support within the next couple of years.
Aware of the growth within the later-life lending market, once fully settled in and writing a good volume of business Jarvis also plans to take the equity release qualification to further explore that sector.
Joining MAB
Jarvis has joined Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB) to get started and, along with having a good working relationship with the senior team already, cites the training available as a key part of her decision.
“I’m excited to eventually be part of the MAB family at long last after working closely with them over the years, albeit from a lender partnership perspective,” she says.
“They don’t treat you like a network does – it’s about the quality of the advice and protection advice too, making sure customers are adequately protected.
“My daughter will be assisting with administration and customer support, so she may even take a liking to our wonderful industry and look to train through the MAB academy to become an adviser.”
The focus on protection advice is close to her heart as she has already lost two friends this year in their forties.
“You never know what’s going to happen so I fully understand and believe in the need for protection advice,” she adds.
‘You can’t be complacent’
As with the changing role of the advice industry nationally, Jarvis is not going to be restricted to her clients in the local area.
Following the MAB approach of wanting to be able to offer every single customer in the UK the option of online, face-to-face or over the phone, Jarvis wants to do the same.
“Naturally from my career I know a lot of people around the UK so I want to be able to offer my service to anyone around the country – whatever method the customer wants,” she adds.
And she plans to practice what she previously preached, pledging to keep up with the industry changes and learning as the market develops.
“You can’t be complacent,” she continues.
“As a salesperson I used to tell brokers not to be complacent, if you’re going to see a business development manager (BDM) make it a specialist, and make sure you keep your specialist market knowledge up.”
So despite the daunting task of building a business and the hard work ahead, Jarvis is positive and enthusiastic about making the step to the broker side.
“I’m quite excited, really raring to go and just can’t wait to see my first customer. I’ll be working long hours but doing it for myself.
“When I left, Pepper said I have an enviable reputation in the lender market – I’d like to have that as a broker too,” she concludes.
