The common qualification for mortgage advisers is not fit for purpose as it does not teach them vital parts of the job, say Greg Marcham and Stephen Perkins, who have made it their life's work to assemble a group of like-minded brokers focused solely on delivering the best client service.
The Certificate in Mortgage Advice and Practice (Cemap) qualification hit the news recently after an artificial-intelligence-driven computer managed to pass the test to become a qualified adviser.
But the founders of mortgage brokerage Yellow Brick Mortgages are not impressed by this, saying the qualification did little more than test technical knowledge and was devoid of any practical skills needed to succeed as a broker.
Relying on this alone did nothing to ensure the future success of a brokerage or the profession as a whole.
Perkins says: "The Cemap qualification is not fit for purpose... It doesn't teach you how to be a mortgage broker any shape or way.
"Most of it is about the legal framework or pensions or stuff that's got absolutely nothing to do with what makes a great broker, which is the communication, the research, the giving advice, presenting, all those elements that are not included in that exam at all.
"Teaching a computer to pass one of those exams based on having all the textbooks in them and past papers and things like that, I think you can do that. Would it make them a good broker? I think absolutely not."
Perkins and Marcham set up Yellow Bricks after walking away from a nationwide property services group deciding that corporate life was no longer for them.
They had a vision to establish a network of brokers that would deliver the best client experience they could while using their success to give back to the communities they work in.
"We just realised that it was all about numbers, it wasn't about people anymore," says Marcham. "And actually, I got into it to help people and actually by the end all I was doing was phoning people for numbers."
Yellow Brick was founded in Norwich in March 2018, starting off with just the two of them. It now has 72 people, including 65 advisers, the majority of whom are self-employed and working remotely, though some are employed by the firm.
The wider group also offers conveyancing, will writing and a financial planning service as an appointed representative of 2Plan.
On every mortgage that completes, Yellow Brick donates £10 to one of its three charity partners – cancer charity Big C, bereavement charity Nelson’s Journey, and animal sanctuary Pact – allowing clients to choose which one it donates to on their behalf.
It also gives fee-free advice to anyone working for the NHS and has pledged to plant a tree on every mortgage completion.
Part of the reason they set out in this way stems from their personal life experiences, says Marcham, a parent to three foster children plus four of his own, who says he wants to help those who "we don't necessarily naturally touch as a mortgage broker and probably never will", while Perkins says he wants to build a legacy for himself that he can be proud of.
