Saturday, April 19, 2008

With over 23,000 mortgage products wiped from the intermediary market in the last six months[1], brokers are now facing significant difficulty providing clients with refinancing solutions. This has been confirmed in EuroDebt’s February and March Surveys with over 94% of brokers saying yes to the question “In the last 6 months have you noticed an increase in the number of clients not meeting lending criteria?” It is vital, therefore, that brokers diversify in order to sustain income and offer clients with best advice as part of TCF requirements.

Having recently completed a successful series of national Educational Workshops, attended by over 500 IFAs and mortgage brokers, EuroDebt is urging financial advisors to offer alternative debt solutions as an advertised extension of their product and service range. It has already found a number of enlightened networks, packagers and brokers taking up debt management as part of a diversification strategy to protect their business.

EuroDebt will be speaking with brokers and IFA’s at this year’s Mortgage Expo in Manchester to help inform brokers about the benefits of offering debt management solutions as part of their services. Since the launch of its innovative Introducer Scheme at Mortgage Business Expo in London in November 2007, more than 300 brokers have signed up to EuroDebt’s Introducer Scheme along with a number of publicised Partner Agreements with leading packagers, networks and lead referral channels. As the UK's leading debt management company, providing home visits as part of its client engagement process, EuroDebt has a wealth of experience in helping consumers struggling with unmanageable debts and an eight year history of working with the broker market.

EuroDebt focuses on finding the right debt solution for an individual through a highly personalised service which involves working closely with individuals to create an affordable plan to deal with their unsecured debts and any arrears on priority creditors, like their mortgage. "The mortgage brokers who have signed up to our Introducer Scheme are seeing the real benefits of being able to offer a viable alternative to clients who are in financial difficulty", confirmed Kevin Still, Director, EuroDebt Financial Services.

"Some brokers are taking advantage of the free co-branded web portal with EuroDebt, as part of their Introducer Agreement. They are using it to offer referrals for clients in financial difficulty who require an urgent “no obligation” face-to-face meeting with a trained debt advisor. Brokers with a high street presence are already putting plaques in their shop window to promote the fact that they provide professional debt management services in conjunction with a specialist provider like EuroDebt”.

Having already signed up over 300 brokers to our Introducer Scheme and met face-to-face with over 1,000 IFAs and mortgage brokers, we recommend that every potential referrer undertake their own due diligence before entering a partnership.

EuroDebt recommends that you put any prospective partner to the following test:

Is your partner financially strong and has been trading for over 10 years?

Do they pay the best referral commission rates in the industry?

Does your partner compete with you in any way?

Does your partner view every client as a mutual client?

Is the partner referral mechanism slick and the service very personal?

Does your partner pay commission weekly by BACS or on a paid when paid basis?

Can your partner provide immediate references and case studies?

Does your partner offer free training and open access to their facilities? 
Does your partner provide you with a free website and business development support?

Does your partner home visit every prospective client? 
 Is your partner FSA regulated and do they provide a Client Charter?

Designed to provide early proof of results with predictable and attractive introductory commissions paid weekly and on a ‘paid when paid’ basis, there are several tiers of Introducer Agreement depending on whether a broker simply wants to refer cases to EuroDebt or complete a fuller “fact find”.

Source: http://www.introducertoday.co.uk/News/Story/