Several lenders have established contests and perk programs in an attempt to bump up broker business, but those incentives aren’t working on everyone.
Several lenders have established contests and perk programs in an attempt to bump up broker business, but those incentives aren’t working on everyone.
“They make no bearing on our decisions at all,” Paul Mangion, principal broker and partner at the Mortgage Centre M.O.S. MortgageOne Solutions Ltd., told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. “We focus on business, not perks; we work with lenders who are the most reasonable when it comes to conditions and are the most commonsensical.”
Although he admits it would be nice to reap the rewards of such loyalty programs, Mangion argues that their appeal is limited.
“I just saw this today: Sell 30 life insurance policies by March and they’ll send you to Mexico for 4 days,” Mangion said. “It would nice to hit it, but we don’t go out of our way to.”
And it’s an opinion that some other veterans share.
“The perks are great but at the end of the day you want to get the deal done,” Jeff Mayer of Dominion Lending Centres The Mayer Group told MBN. “For a lot of the bigger brokers, it’s nice to get the bonuses and the perks and the trips, but … let’s close the deal and help the clients.”
However, Mayer also believes these programs may actually be detrimental to clients, as they can entice certain industry players to allow their own interests to drive a deal.
Of course, there are times when a perk is added onto the best product.
“Taking a perk while also getting the superior product is OK,” Mayer said. “It’s OK to get paid for your work but it’s not OK to take a benefit for doing business and providing a bad product.”
