This adviser spends her week helping clients with mortgages and attending company events.
Monday
I am back in the office bright and early after a week-long staycation, making the most of the sunny July weather we have had recently. I catch up with my team lead, Rosita, who has been managing my workload.
And, it is good news – many of the mortgage applicants I was advising before my break are ready to get started on their applications and there are no major delays on any of my existing cases.
I have various mortgage recommendations to send to a range of residential, buy-to-let, remortgage and purchase customers, which takes the majority of the afternoon.
Tuesday
After dealing with any urgent requests from applicants, I take some time to gather together notes on self-employed mortgage criteria in preparation for a panel event we are hosting in our offices this evening.
The panel event is called Modern Money: The highs and lows of being self-employed.
We expect around 50 lifestyle and parenting bloggers and influencers at the event to discuss the money issues that freelancers face, including getting a mortgage.
I have an applicant completing a buy-to-let transaction that requires an hour of research. Later, I call the applicant to run through the residential and buy-to-let mortgage recommendation that I have produced.
Although Habito is an online mortgage broker, we are also able to offer a telephone service, which some customers prefer.
Wednesday
Lots of iced coffee needed this morning after the late evening.
I deal with any enquiries that have come into my inbox overnight and then have a meeting with my team lead to discuss my monthly compliance scoring.
We discuss the results of any compliance checks carried out on the mortgage applications that have been submitted in the previous month.
I spend the afternoon progressing my live applications.
My buy-to-let applicant from Tuesday is ready to submit, so I put some time aside to check through their documents that have been uploaded to our online document portal and prepare the case to be submitted to the lenders.
Thursday
Every Thursday we have an ‘all hands’ meeting, which is where all 180 of us across Habito hear about new joiners, recruitment and our latest business or product news.
Recently, we launched our own buy-to-let mortgages which is really exciting. This week we hit 3,000 customer Trustpilot reviews – so it is a time to mark those big moments across the whole company.
I have a complaints workshop that takes up the majority of the rest of my day.
Friday
Every Friday starts with the operations meeting – this is where mortgage brokers and case managers get together to discuss any lender issues that have arisen during the week and share any changes to our processes or systems.
As we are an online startup, we are constantly changing and developing our website to improve the experience of mortgage applicants.
A free healthy lunch is provided in our communal kitchen each day but Friday is always a treat day: fish and chips.
I wrap up the week by reaching out to applicants that have viewings coming up over the weekend to let them know we are online on both Saturday and Sunday.
Emily Smith is mortgage expert at Habito
If you would like to write a diary of an adviser for us, contact Melanie Tringham at melanie.tringham@ft.com
