The Intermediary – February 2025 - Flipbook - Page 53
T H E I N T E RV I E W
Equifinance
products, Marshall does not want to “get
brokers’ backs up,” noting that it is up to the
secured loan market to promote the product
in the best way, and make sure the processes
work to make intermediaries’ lives easier.
Marshall says: “If regulation is the ‘stick’, then
the ‘carrot’ is not just about financial incentives
– it’s also got to be ease of transactions, and
the knowledge that you’re really going to care
for the client. It’s going to take a long time to
build that trust.”
Equifinance on the rise
In 2025, Equifinance is focused on further
building out this trust and awareness with the
mortgage intermediary market.
Marshall says: “The brokers we distribute
through do more than just selling a product –
they create the lead, of course, but then they
package the case as well, taking on the burden
of the case’s administration, valuation, credit
searching, placing. There’s a lot of costs borne
by them before they get to the point of a loan
completing.
“The last thing they want is a criteria sheet
that says a lender will do it, and then the
underwriter looks at it and says, ‘it fits the
criteria but we’re not going to do it’. The criteria
we produce for the brokers, we stand by.”
To make this work, Equifinance analyses
how products perform over time and tweaks
its criteria to ensure that what the broker is
offered initially fits its lending appetite, market
trends and consumer needs.
More than this, building the profile of the
industry – and Equifinance itself – is about
service level agreements (SLAs). Marshall notes
that the firm pledges 48 hours to respond to
a broker when a case is submitted, which it is
“renowned for adhering to,” and if this is not
possible, it places great store in communication
as to why.
Equifinance also tries as much as possible
not to go back to the broker with repeated
requests, asking for all additional information
in one go, where possible.
“Then, we just try to make the customer
journey – post-underwriting through to
completion – very slick ,” Marshall adds.
The secret to ensuring this level of certainty,
smoothness and communication, he says, is
employing the right people, and investing in
their continued education and development,
“building them into the culture.” For example,
the underwriting administration support
team at Equifinance is staffed with trainee
underwriters. This means that once they
progress to the next stage and gain a mandate,
they already have experience and with the
firm’s processes and approach.
Looking ahead to the rest of this year,
Marshall points to a second securitisation
when Equifinance is ready, which should enable
the firm to enhance its product range further.
Equifinance is also nearing the end of
building its new IT solution, which Marshall
says will make it “more efficient.”
While the name Equifinance continues to
hold its weight, the firm is also looking forward
to a brand refresh, and most importantly, a
continued trajectory of stable growth.
“I’m not going to say we’ll grow exponentially
this year,” Marshall explains. “We want to
remain stable, growing but with no urgent
desire to go past where we are now. During
2025 and beyond, we may start exploring other
segments outside of this market.”
For seconds as a whole, while many assumed
that the change and turbulence of the past
few years would have caused this market to
skyrocket – and there was certainly plenty
of growth in 2024 – it did not reach the lofty
heights some might have expected.
“We’ve got a perfect storm,” Marshall says.
“Interest rates are going up, everybody’s
used to lower rates, many of those people
have credit and are becoming uncomfortable
and need to consolidate – we in this industry
expected a tidal wave of business and that
hasn’t come about.”
All the factors have been primed to set
seconds up as a great solution for many people,
and while more are solving their problems in
this product space, there are various factors
muting its success. This might mean brokers
are not pushing more holistic conversations
around finances with their clients – missing an
opportunity to discuss debt consolidation, for
example, by not asking about non-mortgage
life factors. It might also reflect a cultural
discomfort, whereby Brits – despite the rising
use of unsecured credit – are not comfortable
discussing debt or financial difficulty. This is
all the more reason for brokers to find ways to
build trust and lead them into these broader
discussions, rather than missing out.
“There’s lots of customers out there whose
lives could have been made better a lot earlier,”
Marshall says.
Despite growth having been less meteoric
than many expected, Marshall has a positive
outlook for 2025 in the second charge market.
“Subject to external events, it should be an
exciting year,” he concludes. “All things being
equal, there’s no reason why this product and
this industry cannot grow.” ●
February 2025 | The Intermediary
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