Each month, Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions sit down with a key intermediary industry figure to discuss strategy, the opportunity for brokers and the mortgage marketplace.
This month, we are speaking to Shelley Stern, director of mortgages at Spring Finance.
How did you get into the mortgage industry?
My first job in the mortgage industry was always planned to be temporary – spending a gap year working for a mortgage broker, where I was responsible for selling secured loans. This gave me the chance to save some money to fund a postgraduate course and qualify as a teacher. Three months into said course, I realised I lacked the life experience needed to teach teenagers – I was only 22 at the time. I left the course with a renewed respect for teachers and undertook some office temping while I looked for my next job.
An opportunity came up to join a small family-run lender, and it made sense to use the skills and knowledge I gained from my previous role, although I’m pretty sure I had next to no real knowledge of the mortgage market. I have always enjoyed solving problems and working as part of a team, this role gave me an opportunity to learn the ropes in a supportive environment.
Fast-forward 20 years, with roles at Prestige Finance, OneSavings Bank, Masthaven and now Spring Finance, the industry is almost unrecognisable, but the culture and desire to achieve good customer outcomes remains the same. The environment is still as fast-paced and collaborative.
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It sounds clichéd, but I’m still learning, and every day is different. It’s a great industry to be part of.
What has been your biggest learning over your career?
The importance of building the right team and taking them on the journey with you. This means making sure individuals understand the role they play, and are given the training, support and environment to deliver. Listen to their views, especially when making changes and take on board their feedback. They are often closer to the detail and will no doubt have thought of something that you couldn’t have foreseen.
By collaborating and building a process together, people are more invested in delivering the best outcome.
What is your strategy for overcoming challenges?
Take time to fully understand exactly what is needed and don’t rush a solution without first considering a few key points:
- What is the challenge and desired outcome?
- How can I achieve this?
- Who can help me achieve it?
Communicate with your stakeholders and recognise that your challenge might not be important to them, so give some thought as to how to get their support.
What was the best piece of advice you’ve received?
Recognise that you can’t always and don’t need to be the expert in everything. You need people with different skill sets and expertise to make a successful team – the challenge is recognising when you need to utilise others to support you.
How was business in 2024 for Spring Finance?
2024 was a good year for the business. We launched a development finance product, secured further funding, recruited some great people and completed record volumes. We also committed to deliver a new mortgage origination platform to better serve our intermediary partners and are looking forward to launching this soon.
How will Spring Finance build on this in 2025?
The new system in the mortgage division will help to transform our mortgage lending proposition and support us moving into the first charge market, where we have ambitious plans to support the specialist mortgage market.
With further technology upgrades planned in the bridging division, along with additional funding lines, we want to build on the foundations laid over the last two years.
We have some exciting plans for the business and are looking forward to sharing these in the coming months.
How has the funding from Shawbrook helped to support business?
The Shawbrook funding line has allowed Spring Finance Limited to diversify its product range by offering development finance. With strong backing from Shawbrook, we are well-capitalised to offer a competitively priced product to help our existing brokers, increase our market share and open doors to new relationships.
Are there other areas the lender wants to expand into?
Aside from the first charge purchase and remortgage market, we have ambitions to become a lender that serves all areas of the specialist mortgage market and are busy making plans to deliver further enhancements to our current product ranges.
Within the areas it already operates in, what opportunities has Spring Finance identified?
Following feedback from our intermediaries, we launched a first charge remortgage product for homeowners who own their property outright but have been unable to obtain a high street mortgage or unsecured loan. These loans tend to be smaller advances at a very low loan to value (LTV) and are typically used to support home improvements to the property. The product has proved popular, and we recently expanded the range to include buy-to-let (BTL) properties.
What would you want brokers to know about Spring Finance?
Over the last two years, our business has fundamentally changed. Aside from launching into new areas, we have listened to feedback from our intermediaries and teams, and have streamlined our application process, removing unnecessary application forms and requirements. We have an extremely experienced team who will look for solutions. With a broad product range and an appetite to lend, we are committed to delivering the right outcome and supporting our customers’ needs.
