"Future-proofing your business will take more than simply being hot on when to drop your clients a note ahead of their fixed rate finishing."
What next?
For example, the next few years could be a bumper time for remortgaging. This is particularly true for the buy-to-let market, as we hit the five-year anniversary of the introduction of the 3% surcharge on second home purchases - an awful lot of landlords opted for a five-year fix and are approaching the date when those deals mature.
There are significant numbers of residential borrowers in a similar position, with fixed rate deals maturing in the months ahead. In fact data from CACI last year pinpointed April, June and October of 2021 as particularly busy months on this front, which each seeing fixed rate deals worth more than £26 billion mature.
That’s a huge number of borrowers who are facing the prospect of the bill shock that comes with moving onto a lender’s standard variable rate (SVR). If intermediaries want to build a stronger business, that can ride out any peaks and troughs in the purchase market, then maintaining regular contact with their existing client bank - and getting in touch some time before their current five-year fixed rate expires - is essential.
There’s more to me than mortgages
Future-proofing your business will take more than simply being hot on when to drop your clients a note ahead of their fixed rate finishing. It’s about establishing that you can do more than simply pinpoint the right mortgage or remortgage deal, and position yourself as someone who can advise and guide the client through all sorts of different aspects of their finances.
An obvious example here is protection, with life insurance, critical illness cover and income protection a fundamental part of the discussions most intermediaries have with their clients.
This approach makes a lot of sense for a number of reasons. Most obviously, it provides another income stream, supplementing the revenue generated from the main mortgage business.
Intermediaries can take that approach even further by picking the right businesses to partner with, who can deliver an even more rounded range of options for their clients. It’s been a big focus for us at eConveyancer, to build a comprehensive selection of ancillary services which intermediaries can provide for their clients, at no added cost, which will only help to strengthen the relationship the intermediary enjoys with that client.
For example, we have partnered with the home setup service Just Move In, which appoints a ‘move specialist’ for homemovers who will handle all of that stressful admin - like setting up a redirect for your post or arranging an energy deal - which comes from a house move so that your client can concentrate their efforts on the move itself. It works for remortgage customers too, providing a ‘bills health check up’ on their existing suppliers.
These additional services supplement core offerings like DigitalMove, our digital conveyancing solution which keeps clients fully up to date on how their case is progressing, and our Rapid Remortgage which can ensure that remortgage cases are completion-ready incredibly quickly.
A trusted ally
For mortgage intermediaries to truly future-proof their businesses, they need to be able to be the trusted name that clients turn to time and again, whenever they need advice with their finances.
Partnering with the right businesses can mean that intermediaries offer these additional services with little to no extra work involved, increasing the value they offer to their clients and securing their business for the long term.
