“I have spent the past couple of weeks doing road shows with brokers from all over the country about near prime and how they can increase their incomes in 2012.
“It looks like next year is likely to be similar to this year so brokers who are looking to increase their incomes next year should be looking for growth areas.
“My message is quite simple, near prime is a growth area and more and more customers need the product.
“Many brokers told me that as many as one in four of their clients have some kind of blemish on their credit file so you don't need a calculator to work out that millions of people might be looking for a near prime product at some point in the near future.
“One problem that our own research has identified is that many customers believe that they won’t be able to get a mortgage because banks are not lending very much money at the moment, so it is going to take a proactive message to change their minds.
“I would encourage brokers to increase their marketing activity with their customers by sending regular newsletters or by using social media sites so that when the customer thinks about mortgages they think broker.
“Also, it might be a good idea for brokers to work on professional introduction sources such as accountants or solicitors or possibly even working with brokers who have left the industry to see if you can get referrals.
“If you can get a copy of Yellow Pages from 2007 you will find a list of mortgage brokers of which 60% of them probably won’t be writing mortgages anymore.
“Simply ring the brokers up and establish whether they still do mortgages and if they don't whether they would be willing to establish an introducer agreement.
“In fact the number of brokers is down by about two thirds and as a result there will be lots of orphan clients who need the service of a good mortgage broker.
“Some brokers also told me that they think near prime cases are really difficult to place and not worth the hassle but things have changed over the last few months and there are a number of lenders competing for near prime deals.
“I think that it is now as easy to place a near prime deal as it is to place a prime deal and many lenders have spent considerable sums of money on technology to make the process as slick as is possible.
“I am very positive about next year as I believe that those people who look for opportunities and are prepared to do things differently will do well even in a challenging market.”
