Meet Gary Bush, managing director of www.MortgageShop.com
Tell us a bit about your business.
www.MortgageShop.com is a directly authorised company that is almost 35 years in existence.
We have been an AR firm, network IFA firm, and are now a mortgage and protection specialist.
Where are you based and where do you operate geographically?
We have always been based in North London, but more recently, since the lockdowns, we also now have a northern base in Hartlepool which helps to expand our recruitment opportunities.
We cover the whole of the UK and have done so for the past 20 years.
What are the main issues impacting your local market?
Trying to stay up-to-date and on top of lender underwriting changes has always been the main issue for us.
Our clients come to us to fix their tricky financial situations – be it divorce, business challenges, random job changes, financial difficulties, construction problems, later life lending, you name it.
Some of them have been returning now for 25 years. All of this helps keep us on our toes.
What challenges are you facing as a broker?
As a privately owned company that has for over 20 years been writing our own software that the business runs on, one of the biggest challenges for us is writing enough computer code before the next round of industry changes.
These changes are endless and yes, we have our teeth stuck into Consumer Duty right now.
What are the main opportunities for brokers in your area and nationally?
A major opportunity for us is our ability to blend decent consumer impartial financial planning into technological systems to better serve clients.
It’s important for clients to still feel the customer services work of the business, even though it might be being rolled out using bespoke live chat sessions, emails, conference calls, or via internet systems – people still like swift, transparent and decent advice regardless of how you deliver it to them.
What could lenders do to help further your business?
At the moment, they could stop all emailing us three times a week with rate changes – we get it, we really do.
Lenders could stand by their word a little more. A decision should be a decision with no wriggle room.
I could make a fuss about the re-emergence of direct-to-consumer deals from lenders at this point, but I think they know now that the broker community has their eye on them and that we have long memories.
What sets you apart from the competition?
We started arranging mortgages for people via the internet in 1996.
Others have come and gone during this time, but we have spent this time truly investing in a backbone, front and back, office IT system – we didn’t want to, there just isn’t anything as useful out there in the broker IT market.
We don’t just understand financial matters, we understand how to deliver them via hundreds of thousands of lines of computer code.
How should potential borrowers contact you?
For new enquiries freephone 0800 092 0800, or visit www.MortgageShop.com
These both work seven days a week and the website can automatically give generic decisions on most kinds of mortgages.
For a brain-pick discussion call 0207 871 3023.
Would you like to feature in Meet the Broker? Email [email protected] to find out more.
