The amount of product choice and lenders’ varying reactions to industry challenges has made the job of a broker “more difficult”, head of BM Solutions Phil Rickards has said.
Speaking on Mortgage Solutions Television in association with BM Solutions, he said while the fundamentals of the job remained the same, brokers needed to be more “educated and understanding” of the changes to make sure they fulfil what is required to ensure an application goes through to a lender smoothly.
He said, for example, BM Solutions’ reaction to portfolio landlords would have been different to another lender’s, meaning brokers would have to get used to a wide range of changing systems.
Rickards also said the quality of mortgage applications put through to the buy-to-let lender had suffered as a result of the complex nature of the sector. He claimed 40 per cent of applications BM Solutions received were either incorrect or had insufficient information.
He also said mortgage fraud was an added factor as technology had made it more sophisticated, leaving brokers with the task of spotting fraud before it reached a lender.
“It’s a much tougher job than it was historically,” he added.
Shekina is the deputy editor at Mortgage Solutions and commercial editor at Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions. She has nearly eight years of experience in the B2B publishing market, having previously covered the hospitality, retail, pet, accounting and jewellery sectors.
Shekina has worked for Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions for almost five years. Here, she covers the market’s breaking news stories, engages with professionals in the sector, and oversees any commercially agreed content in partnership with mortgage-related companies.
This includes presenting webinars and hosting roundtable discussions on developing themes in the mortgage sector.
She is an NCTJ-trained journalist and was nominated for the Headline Money Awards Mortgage Journalist of the Year in 2021.
In her spare time, Shekina likes to read, travel, listen to music and socialise with friends.
She currently reports on current events in the mortgage market and liaises with financial clients to produce sponsored content.
Follow her on Twitter at @ShekinaMS
