Diligent research key to success for second charge newbies

Reacting to the Legal and General findings that 84% of brokers intend to offer second charges this year, owner of Connect for Intermediaries Liz Syms said ensuring they are knowledgeable in the area will remove the risk.

“The risk involved is only a lack of knowledge”, said Syms.

“If a broker applies the same level of diligence when researching the solutions that they would do for a first charge, and they mathematically compare the options and record their findings, then advising on a second charge should not be any more risky than advising on a first charge.”

Syms said getting to know the specialist sector as fast as possible is the real task for brokers.

“The challenge is how quickly a broker can enhance their knowledge to understand the lender criteria and products,” she said.

“There are many distributors such as ourselves who are more than happy to hand hold the adviser through the process.”

Under the guidance of the Mortgage Credit Directive, second charge lending was brought under the remit of the Financial Conduct Authority for the first time in March.