Specialist customers are a good, growing source of business for brokers, as they will lead to more referrals.
Speaking at The Specialist Lending Event, Ryan Brailsford (pictured), director of business development at Pepper Money, told brokers that the “more specialist customers you deal with, I strongly believe the more referrals you’ll get, because they’re the ones that you’ve dragged out of the mud”.
“They’ve actually come to you and said: ‘I don’t think you can help me, but please do’. And then you’ve done what they didn’t think was possible, rather than: ‘I can probably do this myself, but would you do it for me for a comparison?’
“They will big you up, and they will talk about that story to everybody. They really stick with you for life, and they refer more,” he said.
Brailsford noted that customers would increasingly need the specialist sector, pointing to its Specialist Lending Study – now in its eighth version – showed that over three-quarters said the current economic environment will make it harder for them to get a mortgage.
He said 14% of respondents have had to take on extra work due to the cost-of-living crisis, nearly a third that have adverse credit have outstanding debts of more than £5,000, and nearly half say their debt has grown.
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Around 57% said their disposable income had fallen in the last year and 26% said it had decreased significantly.
Within that, 89% said the biggest impact has been food bills, followed by 82% pointing to energy bills and 34% citing travel costs.
He added that, as a lender, it was seeing more self-employed, debt consolidation and interest-only business.
“My challenge to you, my call to action for you today, is make yourself visible. Embrace ‘specialist’ on your shop window. Have you got the keywords on your website? Have you got them on your social media? Because people are not going to Google: ‘I want a mortgage’. People are going to Google: ‘I want some mortgage but I’m a contractor’, or ‘I want a mortgage but I’ve got a county court judgment’,” he explained.
He noted that there were still misconceptions about specialist lending being primarily for those with adverse credit, but 50% of its cases were “clean”.
“That means that they never, ever move off the top tier, which [is] the cheapest rate. The only thing that ever moves off the top tier is when the registration date for the default or a CCJ puts it there,” Brailsford said.
The Specialist Lending Event continues around the country and will take place in Aston Villa and East Sussex next week.
