Ours is a business in which it’s sometimes very difficult to garner recognition when you do a good job, so forgive us if we make a big noise when such plaudits all too rarely arrive. Here’s a snippet of a note received from one of our mortgage clients after one of their customers wrote in following a visit from our Regional Partner Steve Davis:

“…he was very courteous and polite, very informative, and fair and understanding of both her situation and of ours.  She said he explained everything clearly and she learned a lot of information she wasn’t previously aware of about what we require and what help she can get.”

Makes all the hard work worthwhile!

If you have a moment, take a look at www.tcfinfo.co.uk. TCF (Treating Customers Fairly) has quite rightly become the lending industry’s mantra, particularly in these troubled times of pin-sharp regulation and oversight. Effectively, TCF exists to ensure that customers who find themselves in financial difficulty and unable to meet their obligations are given every opportunity to state their case – so that collection activity is tailored to, and informed by, a full understanding of the customer’s circumstances – we think the best way of achieving that aim is through a face to face  interview with the customer in the comfort of their home, conducted by an experienced and knowledgeable counsellor. How TCF is that!

We note with interest that fraud cost the UK economy £1.374bn in 2010, according to KPMG’s Fraud Barometer. That represented a 16% increase on 2009.

Financial institutions spend an awful lot of money on detecting and resolving fraud, particularly on remote tools designed to identify application fraud trends, but seldom invest as heavily in fraud prevention. In the mortgage arena huge commissions are paid to mortgage introducers, who become the only human face the borrower relates to the transaction, whilst the lender remains in the background. On the basis that “people buy from people”, how much more effective would it be if lenders sent a representative to meet new customers at the outset of the loan agreement, to confirm their understanding of the transaction and resolve any of the borrower’s questions, but also to undertake a rudimentary fraud-check? And here’s an idea – pay for it out of the broker’s fee!