"They are advisers. In fact, they are very knowledgeable, very qualified advisers. And to me, that is an important difference."
Equity Release Broker.
The ‘B-word’ as I will endeavour to refer to it from now on (I’m not joking, even saying it in my head actually hurts) is one of the strangest anachronisms of our market. It pervades like one of those annoying house flies that gets trapped indoors during the hot summer months – you know it’s there, you even see it from time to time and – for the most part – you can ignore it.
But there it remains – circling and buzzing and constantly banging its head against a closed window despite an open one being within a ‘surely-the-law-of-averages-would-help-out-here’ distance.
Like it wants to but doesn’t want to escape all at the same time.
I wish the B-word would buzz off.
For me – and I confess this may be an age-related issue – a “broker” (£5 in the Swear Box) is synonymous with employees of the High Street car insurance firms who sit all day long in offices that seem to be permanently trapped in the 1970s, taking orders from customers for the cheapest Third Party Fire & Theft plan they can find for a clapped out Fiat Punto with ‘go faster’ stripes and ‘My Other Car Is A Porsche’ sticker on the rear bumper.
For me, a [deep breath] “broker” is an order-taker. That’s not to say that being one is a bad thing – those Fiat Puntos won’t insure themselves after all – but those who work, indeed specialise, in the equity release market are not order-takers.
They are advisers. In fact, they are very knowledgeable, very qualified advisers. And to me, that is an important difference. At the risk of stating the obvious, an adviser advises whereas a broker, well, they just broke.
They come form different worlds, meet different customer needs in very different ways. Calling a professional, qualified adviser a “broker” is like calling a Corgi Gas Fitter a ‘pipe adjuster’ or a Part-P qualified electrician a ‘plug changer’. In other words, it completely undermines and devalues the service an adviser (especially an equity release adviser) can offer their clients.
The equity release market is rightly proud of its heritage and reputation as a safe and respected market, due in no small part to the focus on regulation, advice and customer outcomes that have been central tenets of this market since the introduction of the SHIP standards 25 years ago.
Equity release advisers require detailed knowledge of the mortgage and lifetime mortgage market (with CeMAP and CeRER or ER1 qualifications). They deal with older, sometimes vulnerable clients, talking and advising on a wide range of topics – not just the loan the client wants but the impact that might have on their access to State benefits, for example.
You can get a good deal from a broker – you can get great advice (possibly life-changing advice) from an adviser.
The sooner this market sets the ‘B-Word’ free the better in my opinion. There are markets and professions where the word fits and works. The professionalised, highly qualified and specialised world of retirement lending is not one of them.
Advice. Adviser. Specialist Advisory Firms. Those are the only buzzwords I want to hear.
