Describe your firm in a few sentences.

Boon Brokers is an independent mortgage, insurance and equity release brokerage. It is based in East Anglia but works with clients across the country.

It was founded with a clear vision: to offer fee-free advice and arrangement of financial products while simultaneously providing the highest quality of advice.

What led you to become a broker?

After studying economics modules at university, I became interested in property investment. As I was also excited by the idea of financial consultancy work, to assist people with challenging financial circumstances, I searched for careers that included both.

The industry needs to focus much more on marketing the benefits of becoming a mortgage broker to young people

The mortgage market was the most obvious fit and, together with my father, who had worked in financial services for many years, I co-founded Boon Brokers.

What plans do you have for your firm?

We have a core long-term objective that we strive towards every day. That objective is to fundamentally improve the perception of mortgage brokers in the UK.

It is no secret that, since the financial crisis, brokers have been branded as parasites by consumers who were missold products. When the industry was far less regulated, many brokers capitalised on consumers’ asymmetric information and betrayed their trust by offering them unsuitable mortgages.

Always put the client first and have no favouritism or bias in your work

We want to help restore faith in the standard of mortgage advice across the UK. To achieve this goal, we hope to become a nationally known brokerage that sets a standard for high-quality financial advice without charging client fees.

We want to show consumers that the quality of mortgage advice is not correlated with the fee charged by brokers, and they can make significant savings by using a quality fee-free broker.

What single thing could lenders do to improve brokers’ lives the most?

They could seek brokers’ feedback more often through easily accessible channels.

But we need to be careful not to tar all lenders with the same brush. Some are excellent and regularly update their systems, improve their service and strive to make their processes more efficient. Other lenders, which all experienced brokers can name immediately, are stuck in legacy systems and refuse to innovate at the rate needed in the market.

What advice do you have for a broker just starting out?

I would advise them to find a highly experienced mentor in the industry. I was so fortunate to have my father, who has more than 30 years’ experience in the sector, to guide me through the first few challenging months in the job.

Also, as the financial services industry is so highly regulated, it is easy to fall into compliance traps that you are unaware of. Without guidance and training from an experienced mentor, new brokers can make mistakes with serious consequences.

I would advise new brokers to find a highly experienced mentor in the industry

The other piece of advice I would give is to always put the client first and have no favouritism or bias in your work.

By consistently putting the client and best practices first, you will generate positive word of mouth that will lead to a compound effect of referrals. However, if you do not put your client first, and perhaps charge excessive fees or place the case with a certain lender because it is most convenient for you, negative word of mouth could damage your business.

How can the industry encourage a new intake of brokers?

The industry needs to become more attractive to young people.

From my time at university, I saw most of my friends opt for London-based roles in investment banking.

We want to help restore faith in the standard of mortgage advice across the UK

Currently, mortgage broking is often not in the conversation for young people discussing their career prospects. This is likely due to reasons such as the industry’s poor reputation from past behaviour, and a lack of understanding around the personal and career development opportunities on offer.

The industry needs to focus much more on marketing the benefits of becoming a mortgage broker to young people, and changing their perception of the occupation.

If you would like your firm to be featured in Broker Focus, please email Mortgage Strategy deputy editor Gary Adams at: [email protected]