The mortgage client who remortgages elsewhere two years later

18 hours ago
3 min read

Introduction

A broker places a case, the client is delighted, and two years later the fixed rate ends and somebody else handles the remortgage. Frequently the client does not even recall having used a broker at all. That is the measure of how far the relationship faded.

Nothing went wrong. The advice was good, the case completed, and then two years of silence passed while comparison sites and the lender's own retention team spent money reminding that person they existed.

The second case is worth as much as the first and costs almost nothing to win. It is simply never claimed. No new lead has to be bought to win it.

1. The mortgage client who remortgages elsewhere was lost in the quiet years

Understand the shape of the problem.

Two years is long enough to forget a name

Especially for a one-off transaction handled largely by email during a stressful house purchase. The move itself occupies all the memory.

Everybody else contacts them and you do not

The lender writes. Comparison sites advertise. Both spend money on it every month. If the only silent party is the broker, the outcome is predictable. Presence beats persuasion here.

2. Diarise the end of the deal from day one

This is the single highest-value habit in the business. It converts one-off cases into a pipeline.

Record the product end date at completion

Every case, without exception. A single field in the system is enough. It is a book of future work sitting in the file. Most brokers never open it.

Make contact six months before it ends

Early enough to plan, before the lender's retention offer arrives and settles it. Six months is the point of decision.

3. Stay in contact between cases

Two years of nothing cannot be fixed with one email. The contact has to be built up over the gap.

Send something occasionally that is worth reading

Rate movements, what is happening with lending criteria, a note when the market shifts. Three or four a year. Short and specific.

Use life events, not just dates

Moving, a new baby, a change of job, home improvements. These are better prompts than the calendar. Each one changes what somebody needs. Ask rather than assume.

4. Broaden beyond the mortgage

One product is a fragile relationship.

Protection, buildings cover, wills and later-life advice

All four are genuinely useful to review. Doing it properly serves the client and gives you legitimate contact in the years when there is no mortgage to arrange. It is advice, not a pitch.

Review protection when the mortgage changes

The cover was arranged for a different loan and a different family. Circumstances move on. It usually needs revisiting. Raise it at every remortgage.

5. Make the referral engine work

Mortgage clients know other movers.

Ask at completion

That is the moment of maximum goodwill, and almost nobody asks. One sentence is enough.

Keep the introducers warm

Agents, solicitors, accountants. A call every quarter keeps you in mind. Repeat business in broking is as much about referrers as about clients. Speak to them regularly.

Conclusion

Brokers lose the remortgage during the two quiet years, not at the point of decision: two years is long enough to forget a name, and the lender and the comparison sites are contacting the client while the broker is silent. Record the product end date on every case at completion and make contact six months out, before the retention offer lands.

Between cases, send short, specific notes on rates and criteria, and use life events rather than only dates. Broaden into protection, cover, wills and later-life advice so there is a reason to speak in the years with no mortgage, review protection whenever the loan changes, ask for referrals at completion, and keep agents and solicitors warm.