Hi i am considering starting up with Aussie homeloans as a mortgage broker. what do mortbrokers think of the industry? Any advice for beginners? I am quite keen to work hard and am motivated. thanks
Trom mate I believe such a job can be rewarding both emotionally and financially. Aussie eh?? I don't know what deals they are offering to their staff but they can't be very good as the staff I have dealt with are as knowledgeable on loan structuring as my grandma is... I tried to get a loan from them 3-4 years ago and I have to say that I was not impressed with their service or their staff's ability to offer solutions. Ofcourse I took my business elsewhere. Cheers Bill
Hi Trom, Similar to BV I don't think that highly of mortgage brokers. They are only in it for the deal and they'll only contact you in a few years time to refinance so they can take another upfront cut compared to the ongoing. Also, mortgage broking has very low levels of entry (is there any minimum education levels?) and hence why there is so much competition in the mortgage broking arena. Turn to the US and we can see what there banks managed to screw low income earners with super low rates which were sold by mortgage brokers. I don't know how old you are or anything else about you. You say you are keen to work hard and are motivated. You might want to think about becoming a financial planner, there are many more barriers than mortgage broking which hopefully keeps out the people who are not genuine and sincere and want to help clients. Saying that there are a few older advisers who haven't yet retired which may not have the updated knowledge but are probably going to retire soon. Check on seek.com.au how many jobs there are for financial planners. Cheers, Dan
Trom, On the other hand, it could be that my situation was difficult or that the consultant I spoke to on the phone was inexperienced. I did get a loan from them 10 or so years ago and didn't come across any major hassles other than the fact that I had to drive to their Office in Parramatta to complete the transaction. I don't remember the exact reason I went there for, but I remember the inconvenience. Cheers Bill
I have a number of mates who are brokers. They genuinely love helping people solve problems and get a buzz out of it. I have referred family members to them rather than direct them straight to a banker. I will go out on a limb and put my hand on my heart and say that none that of my broker friends would do what you have described. But I also know of several dodgy ones that I wouldn't let my friends go near. Thats a problem with generalising. After my early experiences I could describe stockbrokers as only calling when they want to churn some of your investments and that they cannot be very succesful as stockpickers or they would be sitting in a fancy hotel room trading their own portfolio between sipping cocktails with supermodels ... But I would never say that.
Is a financial planner (including mortgage broking) a job that can be done outside of 9-5 business hours, perhaps by website/mobile phone/ and face to face time by appointment? I've been thinking fairly constantly and passionately about my finances for the last year or so, it would be good to give that kind of motivation to others. I would feel some angst taking an upfront adviser fee on funds though, knowing that you can get 0 upfront on investsmart. Taking trailing commisions I would be much happier with since it comes from the fund and not the client.
Is there any problem with being a one stop shop and offering financial planning and mortgage broking under the one service?
Hi Voigstr, No. There is no reason why you can't, I used to work with one. He focussed on mortgages and insurance. The only difference is to be a financial planner who can give advice and charge for it is that they have to RG146 compliant (one of our WA friends who used to work on a rig is currently completing his first subject ELC which is a general introduction to the financial planning environment, industry and regulations. Once he has completed 3 more subjects which cover risk management (insurance), superannuation and investments he can then give advice to the public. I'm not exactly sure what courses a mortgage broker has to do to be able to sell a home loan or reverse mortgage. When a financial planner gives advice to a client they have to hand a Financial Services Guide (FSG) to the client, part 1 is about the licensee, how they charge and how clients can complain including a reference to FICS. Part 2 is a specific sheet which discusses the advisers experience and qualifications. As far as I'm aware a mortgage broker doesn't have the equivalent of an FSG. The financial planner will collect the client's details about age, address, client's objectives, children, insurances, super, debt, assets, income, cashflow, risk tolerances to strategise about how to meet the client's objectives and improve their situation. A mortgage broker would collect some of this information, eg, income, debt, assets, cashflow. Once a financial planner has put together strategies for the client they will put together a Statement of Advice (the financial plan with an annoying name which is once again abbreviated to SoA). This discloses the licensee, the adviser, summarises the clients position and strategy, the affect of the strategy and how it will meet the client's objectives, projections, all of remuneration which the adviser will get paid, eg, upfront and ongoing fees/commissions and other incentives. There are a few small differences between the two. Cheers, Dan
the next question I guess is, once I've done the courses by correspondance, I wonder if I can segue gracefully from my current job into the new one... perhaps after hours, or weekend work...
Mortgage Brokers are not permitted to give financial advice. Nor even discuss the tax benefits of using an offset account. It can be quite tough sometimes when people ask for more and sometimes I end up chatting "investor to investor" and having to make that quite clear. Financiap planning is changing too, the days of sterring a client into a product paying a 4% upfront comission are winding up and many just charge an hourly fee for a plan and then take the trail. Cheers,
I also use a mortgage broker - wouldn't be without him ... but then he is very very good and has been very useful to me. As Simon mentioned - they can't give advice, so don't need financial planning qualifications.
if you were a licenced financial adviser, could you do the risk analysis, come up with a plan (including property if appropriate), and then swap hats (Edward De Bono style) and say "and now as a mortage broker the following products meets the requirements discussed earlier" ?
Hi Voigstr, There is nothing saying you can't do the De Bono! My mortgage broker does, it sort of helps that I worked with him for 3 years and he is a financial planner as well Cheers, Dan