Each week, we also round-up the best comments, emails and letters to the site and pick one reader contribution as our Star Letter. This week’s award goes to:
Three-fifths of lenders predict broker decline post-MMR
I take a different view to this research. We are seeing a decline in high street shops and a move by banks to online, with many shrinking their branch network.
My mortgage adviser contacts in banks tell me they are struggling to contend with internal compliance requirements, with the bar set higher than the Financial Conduct Authority in order to avoid another mis-selling scandal. Many take ages to be authorised and the targets are unachievable.
Indeed, in one of the major high street banks, the most experienced adviser for the whole country has been there just two years as the turnover of qualified staff is so high.
Also, borrowers’ trust in banks is declining and this has led (according to almost all the brokers I know) to a sharp rise in business from referrals for brokers.
MMR will stop the non-advised call centre operations that many banks have invested in and their advisers will become responsible for all aspects of the mortgage sale, as they are both lender and adviser. Indeed, there is a growing dislike of call centre operations for a myriad of reasons.
Accordingly, in my biased view, banks would be better to invest in the broker community. This would shift the risk and cost outside their business, leaving them to focus on rates and market share.
Arron Bardoe
