Mortgage enquiries are coming in thick and fast as this financial adviser gets everything ready in time for a well-earned holiday.
Monday
It is the start of a new week and the British summer we had for 48 hours is now a distant memory. We open for business at 9am and my first job is the same every morning – go through the diary to see what needs to be done. Dan, my administrator (and husband) splits up the tasks. He takes on the solicitor and lender chases and I get in touch with the customers for updates and research.
We have an exchange so we can put protection policies live for the customer, send out the policy documents and congratulate the customer on his new build purchase, which will be ready to move in to at the end of the year. He is a regular, which is always nice to have. I start researching a large portfolio applicant and manage to place it quite easily – however, it is the applications and compliance that takes the time. I have an evening appointment for a remortgage customer and get home about 8.30pm-9pm – a very long day.
Tuesday
It is a new day of checking the diary, emails, and returning calls. I look at a debt consolidation remortgage for a couple and submit the agreement in principle (AIP) to the lender – however, the affordability calculator appears not to be accurate and lulls you into a false sense of security. I speak to the business development manager (BDM) to see if we can get an exception on the application as it will make the clients £300 a month better off. He says he will come back to us with a response asap.
I update the notes and file from last night’s appointment and send over the quotes to the clients. I have had another AIP declined, so its another BDM appeal, which he thinks will be successful – fingers crossed. The phone hasn’t stopped ringing today – in a very good way.
Wednesday
These are my last few days before going on holiday and business is coming in thick and fast; why does that happen when you are going away? But Dan is not coming with me so he can hold the fort and carry on as normal with the help from our locum if need be.
Today I am having a bit of telephone tennis with a BDM as we have been trying to catch up since last week. I really value the input of BDMs and the relationship I have with them. They are such a vital and crucial key to a mortgage adviser.
We finally catch up and she wants to know a bit more about the recent cases I have submitted and what made me use them as a lender. I get this quite a bit and while I am happy to chat, surely the lenders know we send over what we can when we can. It is not possible to forecast what comes through the door and what will go where – it is really simple in that if it fits, it fits.
Thursday
I have heard back from the BDM regarding the debt consolidation and sadly it is a no go. This does mean the remortgage is not worth doing now and neither is a second charge.
We are getting new enquiries and I still have 13 mortgages to submit and compliance to do for before the end of Friday. Thank God for Dan the admin man. I am really looking forward to my break as it is 9pm and I am still working. Still no response from one of my AIPs – cutting it fine now.
Friday
I am tidying up the diary and submitting the last applications. I also just managed to get the compliance completed; that is the bit that really takes the time. I have run through our caseload with Dan so he is completely au fait with where everyone is when he takes over from me next week. It is good to know it is all in safe hands.
Michelle Lawson is a director at Lawson Financial
