The Intermediary – September 2026 - Flipbook - Page 97
M E E T T H E B RO K E R
the response was really encouraging.
Mortgage Chat grew from there into
a space where self-employed and
employed brokers, from all sorts of
networks and Directly Authorised
(DA) firms, could connect and
support each other.
What makes Mortgage
Chat unique?
Mortgage Chat is free and
non-commercial. There are no
membership fees and no agenda
to sell to the brokers in the group.
Brokers should be able to ask about
networks, solicitors, systems or
processes without being hit with a
sales pitch.
We also use proper community
software where posts can be put in
categories, searched and revisited.
That makes it easier to find what you
need and follow threads.
What really makes Mortgage Chat
different is the live interaction. We
run regular virtual get-togethers
on Teams, usually at least twice
a month. These sessions might
focus on ‘non negotiables’ from
experienced advisers, specific
challenges brokers are facing, or just
open Q&A. Over time, those calls
have created real relationships.
How do you help
brokers stay connected
and informed?
My role is to host and facilitate.
Brokers will raise what they are
seeing, share how they are adapting,
and ask others how they are dealing
with the same issues.
Where the community really
comes into its own is around tricky
cases and day-to-day challenges.
Members can bring real scenarios
and benefit from the combined
experience of brokers at all stages
of their careers. Instead of one
prescribed method, you get different
perspectives and best practices, and
you can then decide what fits your
style and your clients. That constant,
collaborative discussion keeps
people connected, reassured and
less isolated, especially if they are
working alone.
How do you help with
financial education for
young people?
Over the years I have seen so
many clients who do not really
understand their credit report or why
certain decisions are made on their
applications. Most people seem to
learn this stuff by trial and error once
they reach adulthood, often the hard
way.
So, around the same time as
launching Mortgage Chat, I started
developing a course for schools
focused on financial identity. The aim
is to help students approaching 18
understand what a credit report is,
how day-to-day behaviours affect it,
and how to look after their financial
footprint. It covers the basics like
missed payments, but goes into
more detail about the long-term
impact of choices.
About 18 months ago I began
delivering this content to students
and invited the Mortgage Chat
community to get involved. As
it grew, I realised we needed
something scalable. That is where
the workbook came from. It is
currently with Beta readers for
feedback, and once it’s finalised
brokers will be able to use it when
they go into schools, giving them a
structured resource to work through
with students.
Through this, I hope to give young
people a much better grounding in
financial realities before they start
making big decisions, and giving
brokers a meaningful way to give
back in their local communities.
Can you explain what a
Broker Blast session is?
Often, lender presentations try to
cover everything in one go. You get
a lot of information, but it is not
always easy to retain. With Broker
Blast, I wanted to flip that.
Each session focuses on one
specific area of criteria – for example,
foreign nationals, adverse, houses
in multiple occupation (HMOs) or
100% lending. We invite a panel of
business development managers
(BDMs), bring brokers together on
a live session, and spend the time
drilling into what really matters for
that type of case. Instead of giving a
full ‘brochure’ of everything a lender
does, each BDM highlights what’s
most practically useful for a scenario.
Brokers leave with a clear
framework for where to place
those cases and why. We record
all the sessions and store them
in a classroom area on the
community platform.
What are the main
opportunities for brokers
at the moment?
The complexity of the market, cost
of living pressures and the pace of
change all mean that good advice is
needed more than ever. There is a
lot of business out there for advisers
who are proactive and willing to
keep learning.
However, I also think we have a
serious issue around support for new
entrants. I see many advisers who
have done their CeMAP, come into
the industry full of enthusiasm and
then end up questioning if broking
is for them. This is rarely about lack
of drive or ability. It is about a lack of
structured support and guidance.
How do you see Mortgage
Chat evolving?
I would love to see a national spread
of brokers, from different networks
and regions, all connected through
the same two aims: supporting one
another and giving back to their
communities. I am very proud of
what we have built so far, but I know
there is still more we can do as the
community and its projects mature.
Mortgage Chat is a free
community, open to any broker who
wants to join.
September 2026
| The Intermediary
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