Summer holidays have come and gone, the World Cup has come and gone, the test series with Pakistan has come and gone, Sven has come and gone and its now back to running a business in a market place that is growing literally by the day.
Since the start of 2006 the enormous change in the secured loan industry has been frightening. At the start of the year we did not even warrant a mention in any of our trade press after Mortgage Expo in London, by the end of Mortgage Expo Manchester in May it would seem that we had taken over the whole of the exhibition according to some comments.
At the start of the year there were a small number of advertisers in the trade press offering specialist secured lending packaging, now every second or third advert is to do with secured loans.
At the start of the year the Corporation of Finance Brokers (CFB) was an organisation that was going nowhere, and probably the majority of people involved in the main mortgage market had no idea what the initials stood for. Now we have the Association of Finance Brokers (AFB) who are getting the publicity at this stage that should make everyone aware of who they are and what they do.
The number of lenders in the market had probably remained the same with the exception of one or two now it would appear that there are a number of other prime and specialist lenders moving into the market.
I could probably list another three or four major changes that have happened since either just before the start of 2006 or just after.
The point I am making is that the secured loan industry is at last becoming a part of the mortgage industry and is being taken seriously by both lenders and intermediaries at long last. Although people who read this will be thinking that I have a biased opinion on this, I can assure you that anyone involved in the remortgage market has got to look at the products available within the secured loan market if they are offering completely best advice and genuine alternatives to remortgaging for their clients. Certainly there are still issues within the market, like single premium payment protection which is currently being looked at closely, and I welcome this along with the service standards that the secured loan brokers have got to offer if they are to be taken seriously within a market that is so highly regulated.
As I mentioned above there are now a large number of ‘specialist’ secured loan master brokers working very hard for a share, of what is a rapidly growing market. Because of this growth in both the master broker and levels of business that are being introduced to the lenders in this way, everyone involved has got to work closer together to make sure that the reputation of our sector of the industry continues to develop in a positive manner. This is why the AFB and the lenders have got to seize the opportunity now, and have more interaction with the serious players involved in the market.
The projected market worth over the next few years has been well publicised and if the amount of new business and new introducers that my company is attracting is anything to go by then it is very important that the master brokers and lenders in our sector learn to work together in building a creditable reputation that can be viewed from both inside and outside the industry with envy.
I recently attended a round table event for both brokers and lenders involved in the secured lending market where a lot of individual views were exchanged frankly and honestly. As in any situation where you put a number of strong-minded people in the same room and ask them to speak their mind you do not always get a result in the end. However what was refreshing to me was the fact that we were able to do this and I for one certainly left the event more open-minded and willing to change some of my views for the good of the future development of an important industry sector.
With all of this in mind I would ask all the consultants & IFA’s and every one else involved in the remortgage market to look at secured loan products as being an additional alternative when advising their clients. Remember when non-conforming mortgages arrived on the scene in the early nineties? How many advisers said then that they would not get involved in the market. Look at it now. How many people would be able to maximise their earning potential without these products.
