This month, Mark Collar, national intermediary distribution manager at Leeds Building Society, will retire after 10 years with the mutual and 35 years in the mortgage industry.
Before he begins his retirement, Collar has shared his reflections on his time in the mortgage industry.
When I started my first role as a mortgage adviser with Bradford and Bingley in 1990, I had no idea that my entire career would be dedicated to supporting people onto, and up, the property ladder.
In 1999, Bradford and Bingley took over Mortgage Express and a number of vacancies opened up for intermediary business development managers (BDMs). I knew that this was a role where I could make an impact within the mortgage industry.
My passion grew as I progressed through various roles at Mortgage Express, where my proudest achievement was being part of the project that delivered one of the first online mortgage application systems – MX Online.
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Since then, I have held senior roles at Santander and Defaqto, where I worked on key accounts to drive strategic changes to positively impact customer service, revenue, and continuous improvement.
A common thread throughout the mortgage sector
The common denominator of all my roles is a passion to help people and build relationships that uncover the benefits of working collaboratively.
I joined Leeds Building Society in 2014, having been aware of the mutual and the impact it was making, and having long-admired its purpose-led approach.
I have had the pleasure of supporting the business towards delivering its purpose of putting homeownership within reach of more people for the past 10 years. This is something I have been extremely passionate about since my first day at Bradford and Bingley in 1990, where we helped many first-time buyers secure their first home, including mine.
How the broker role has evolved
Since then, I have witnessed some significant changes in how intermediaries can support homebuyers. And, of course, the role lenders play in the process. There was a time when BDMs would have to drive to broker meetings with their car boots full of blank application forms to hand out to mortgage brokers or ensure the lender’s pigeonhole had a healthy supply of forms.
When the first online platforms were introduced, there was some resistance from brokers who preferred to manage applications in the traditional way using pen and paper. For brokers who were used to paper-based forms, having to input applications on complicated online systems was initially more time-consuming than writing them up, and faxing them to the lender or photocopying the applications and then going round to the post office to send them off.
However, the benefits of online submissions quickly became the norm as more lenders developed their own digital propositions, resulting in a more efficient broker and lender experience.
Now, with major investments in the broker journey and systems such as mortgage sales and originations (MSO), brokers are better positioned to do the job they are there to do – giving advice to homebuyers and helping them towards getting the keys to their new home.
But it’s not just first-time buyers who need support. At Leeds, we are continuing to make improvements to our products and service and have recently introduced a simpler process for rate-switching, which is something I feel proud to have been part of.
Retaining customers at maturity and giving them the best possible experience as they come off their existing mortgage rate is something I am incredibly passionate about. It’s as important to keep people in their homes as it is to help them onto the ladder.
Signing off
After my departure, my teams will continue to work closely with brokers to streamline the rate-switching journey, and there are some exciting developments around the corner that will enable our intermediary partners to offer the best support to their clients.
The mortgage market has been on a rollercoaster of peaks and troughs since I started out, and it’s hard to imagine that the average house price at the time I started in my first role was under £58,000, which is around 20% of what buyers are paying today.
The industry continues to innovate but the importance of advice to customers remains steadfast. The percentage of mortgage applications that are intermediated continues to increase and lenders play a vital role in helping brokers to support the increasing number of customers who need quality advice on their home buying journey.
I look forward to seeing what the next decade looks like for the mortgage industry and will continue to keep a close eye on all the changes in service and technology that are having such a positive impact on the industry as we navigate the different challenges that come our way.
Collar is looking forward to retirement and plans to spend his time out in the fresh air walking, fly fishing and improving his golf handicap (lots of work to do on that).
He also hopes to spend time supporting charities, including The Trussle Trust and The Canals and Rivers Trust in his local area, aiming to put something back into his local community.
