We love shouting about all the fantastic marketing services we offer advisers. This is one of the areas that has seen some of the biggest expansions and developments recently, and our advisers are grabbing the opportunity to build their business, advertise their brand, and stay in contact with their clients!
Promotional Materials
We offer both appointed representatives of Mortgage Intelligence and directly authorised advisers of Next Intelligence free and modern marketing designs to help promote and advertise their business.
All of our compliant marketing designs can be branded with your company logo and contact details free of charge!* We offer a full range of posters and datasheets in a variety of sizes from A2 to A5. Alternatively, we offer digital versions for use on a variety of social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter in order to maximise your reach.
*Printing costs are not covered, but a quote from our recommended printers can be provided
Consumer Newsletter**
One of our flagship marketing services is the free consumer newsletter. We send out a compliant newsletter featuring three articles every month to your clients that have agreed to receive marketing from you. Staying in touch with your client database post-appointment is imperative and a great way to engage with existing clients.
**Available for appointed representatives of Mortgage Intelligence only
Content Marketing
We provide a whole range of free compliant content that can be used for blogs, emails and for sharing on social media. Our stories cover a variety of subjects that you provide advice on, including mortgages, industry changes, and protection.
Letter Templates
Most recently we have introduced our easy to use letter and email templates for you to send to clients at the right time. It’s important to stay in touch with clients, and our range of letters will ensure you can keep up to date with your client’s current circumstances.
Websites
Create the perfect website to represent you and your company through an approved partner, specialised intermediary Websites and Website Plug-ins. Choosing from mortgage calculators, plug-ins, Best Buy tables and consumer mortgage sourcing, they’ll take you through the process from start to finish or help you to simply enhance your current site and transform your online marketing strategy.
Social media support
Social media has revolutionised the way we do business. Each platform can help reach new customers, engage with existing clients, increase traffic to your website, and best of all, has no direct costs to worry about. As well as the digital marketing designs we offer, we also have social media guidelines to help ensure you post and engage with clients compliantly.
Event Support
As an expert in your industry, we think it’s a great idea to host a mortgage and protection clinic in your area. Our events support include a Quick Start Guide, an Introductory Letter, a Pack Template to help promote your event, and a template to thank attendees. Plus recommended supplier links for print and design.
For more information on our marketing material and details on how to become a member of our fantastic mortgage network or club, call 0345 130 7446.
Head of Compliance, Stephen Adams, discusses what the mortgage and protection adviser industry has learnt following the Carey Pensions court case.
The Royal Court in London heard claims from an investor in late March that a self-invested personal pension (SIPP) provider, Carey Pensions, had colluded with an unregulated introducer to push retirement savers into high-risk unsuitable investments, where they lost as much as £3m. Carey Pensions denied the claims. But The Financial Conduct Authority has reiterated to providers and advisers the weight of regulation is on them when accepting business from unregulated individuals and companies.
A large amount of fraudulent activity comes from business that originated via unregulated introducers. This doesn’t mean everyone trying to introduce mortgage business to your firm is a fraudster. But, it is imperative that all appointed representatives and directly authorised firms pay close attention to individuals approaching them to introduce business.
Some ex-advisers that have either been terminated by the FCA or removed from lender panels are still trying to make money in the mortgage market. They may approach unsuspecting advisers seeking to exploit any weaknesses in their due diligence checks. To protect your business you must make sure that the individuals you deal with don’t put your career at risk. The FCA takes a rigid stance in terms of responsibility:
“The onus is on the authorised firm which accepts business from an introducer to meet its regulatory requirements”.
But, if it is your responsibility and if after your checks you are happy to proceed with an introducer agreement then the relationship should be made professional. An agreement should be drawn up that outlines your relative responsibilities. This should be signed by both parties and is a good way of setting up the business relationship.
Any agreement you make should set out the terms of the arrangement, such as: what product types will be referred, how the client is informed that an introduction has been made, how information is passed to you, how the agreed remuneration will work and how the agreement can be terminated. If your introducer is reluctant to sign such an agreement, you should ask yourself why this is could be. Appointed Representatives of Mortgage Intelligence must use our Introducer Agreement and Introducer Checklist documents.
We believe carrying out in depth, robust checks as part of your standard procedure when taking on introducers will reduce your chances of working with fraudulent clients. However, regardless of how careful you may be you can still be targeted, so be sure to adopt a common sense check. And ultimately, if you don’t feel comfortable do not proceed – it isn’t worth the risk.
If you would like to join our award-winning Mortgage Network as an appointed representative or become a member of our Mortgage Club, contact our Broker Support Team on 0345 130 7446.
National Account Manager for Protection, Craig Bryce, talks about the importance of life insurance for dads in the run up to Father’s Day.
Father’s Day is just around the corner. However, 58% of men in the UK with dependent children have no life insurance. A fifth have also admitted their household would not be financially stable without the main income, new research from Scottish Widows suggests.
Despite a fifth of fathers admitting their households would not survive financially if the worst were to happen to them, only a mere 18% have a critical illness policy. 16% said they could only pay for their bills for a minimum of three months and more than two-fifths said they would have to dip into their savings. 17% admitted their savings would last a maximum of three months and 12% said they have no savings at all. Scary!
The same research also stated that 42% of dads do not have the protection of a will, power of attorney, guardianship or trust arrangement in place for their families despite two thirds of fathers being the main bread winners. These figures really astonish me and I think that more has to be done by the industry to help fathers protect their families. As mortgage and insurance brokers it is our duty to start these conversations.
Many fathers don’t consider life insurance as a necessity and they don’t view critical illness insurance as a financial priority – they just don’t think they need it until it’s too late. Protection and insurance have a greater value than anything fiscal though. It can give long term peace of mind and security for loved ones. That is priceless.
Clients often assume that the worst won’t happen to them and it doesn’t bear thinking about. But the low risk of death also generally means lower cost insurance for your clients. That makes peace of mind worth paying for.
So this Father’s Day, let’s get dads in the UK talking about their life insurance options and help them to further protect their families.
Join our award-winning Mortgage Network as an appointed representative, or become a member of our Mortgage Club, to start benefiting from our fantastic range of comprehensive services and support. Call the Broker Support Team on 0345 130 7446 (opt 1) to find out more.
The figures are according to a sample survey of 5,022 UK adults – 15.17% of whom were dads. If spread across the entire population amounts to approximately 4.5 million fathers without cover.