Gordon Reid offers three reasons why financial planners and paraplanners should consider CeMAP.
Financial advisers may be familiar with the problem. where they are talking to a client and the conversation starts veering towards their mortgage.
They can’t give them mortgage advice, even though they’re a financial adviser and a mortgage is a huge part of their client’s financial life. All they can say is, “I suggest you consult your mortgage adviser”.
If that sounds familiar it could be time to consider becoming mortgage-qualified with CeMAP – or the Certificate in Mortgage Advice and Practice to give it its full name.
“They do complement each other,” says Louis Goacher, who has taken and passed both CeMAP and the Diploma in Financial Advice (DipFA).
“I’m fortunate to have clients where I’m in and out of each topic. So I’m doing pensions and investments as well as mortgages and protection.”
It makes sense.
One of the first things we think about as advisers – and managing our personal finance – is tackling and reducing debt. A mortgage, for most people, will be the biggest debt of their lives.
You can get CeMAP-qualified in just a few months
A fully qualified financial adviser doesn’t need to do the whole of CeMAP so they can qualify more quickly as a mortgage adviser.
Because they’ll have done Unit 1 of DipFA – Financial Services Regulation and Ethics (FSRE) – they’ll be exempt from the first module of CeMAP, or CeMAP 1. They’ve already covered the subject matter.
That leaves CeMAP 2 and 3 which, with a reasonable amount of study, can likely be covered in four to six months.
CeMAP 2 is all about mortgages, so it may be new ground. CeMAP 3 is about the practical application of that mortgage knowledge – giving the background and testing the ability to apply it in practice.
For practicing financial advice professionals, this will be well within their capability.
Increasing demand for equity release
House prices are widely expected to continue rising this year. But interest rates are still low so there’s little point in keeping too much in savings accounts. Clients may opt instead to use their money for home improvements or to increase their liquid capital.
Customers who’ve paid their mortgages off may wish to release equity to cover their increased living costs, or to help their adult children get on the property ladder. As inflation continues to rise, we’re likely to see increased demand for equity release products.
But equity release is complex, which is why – to advise on it –requires an additional qualification on top of CeMAP – the Certificate in Regulated Equity Release (CeRER), which could be completed in six months.
This article was first published on the LIBF website.
