Yesterday we talked about the major job cuts made at BMO when they fired 1,000 employees, most of them mortgage specialists that were meant to be the bank’s saving grace. But while the natural transition for those specialists now without a job might be to turn to the broker channel, they might have a hard time finding a broker that wants them.
For brokers like Paolo Di Petta at Independent Broker, it’s because they’re certain that BMO would have kept the specialists that were very good at their job, only letting go those that were not.
“We all know the banks have hundreds of analysts and people who crunch numbers all the time,” he says, “and I’m pretty sure they would be part of the process in determining who to keep and who not to keep. I’m pretty sure that they would have kept all the good people and shuffled them around if they needed to into different positions.”
But with those sentiments, Di Petta also knows that it’s unfair to the specialists to assume that every that was let go is unfit for their job.
“I’m sure a few really good agents snuck out, maybe they didn’t like the deal they were getting,” he says. “So there might be a few out there it really just depends on how much diligence a broker wants to do when looking at a person they’re hiring.”
But another broker says that these specialists shouldn’t be looked at any differently just because they made the news. Layth Matthews of RateMiser Mortgages says that these specialists should have to undergo the same interview and application process that any other broker would – no more, and no less.
“If they’re professionals, yeah,” he says. “The question is always: Are you self-disciplined enough to manage your time and approach to people, that’s always the hardest thing. I think that people who work for institutions often want to make a go of self-employment and the transition from being a mortgage specialist to being a mortgage broker is probably one of the easier jumps because you’re pretty much doing the same thing.
“It’s just that you’re now having more lenders to work with, more competitive rates, more flexible terms.”
He also believes that the specialists that were let go will find the compensation within the broker channel much better than what they were receiving at the bank.
“I’m sure that the bank specialists are used to getting a fraction of the participation that we get in the mortgage business. There’s a big difference between one per cent and whatever they get.”
