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05 Jun 2018

Five myths about mortgage advice in the workplace

With financial wellness so high on the agenda for many employers and mortgages the biggest financial commitment most of your staff will ever undertake, offering mortgage advice in the workplace should be a no-brainer. Free mortgage advice sessions can be offered onsite in one on one meetings with your employees, helping reduce financial stress and ensuring your staff are more productive and happier as a result.

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So, what are the misconceptions around the market? Below we myth-bust five of the most popular excuses for not offering it as part of your financial wellness armoury:

1. It’s going to cost me – or my staff

This is the most popular misconception of all, but there is no cost to either employer or employee. Instead the fees are paid by the mortgage lenders themselves when a deal is completed. The service is free for both employee and employer for corporate clients – even for any follow-up meetings that the individual and broker may arrange. That covers everything from initial advice to product sourcing, and full administrative support from application to offer – all free of charge. All employers need to do is provide a meeting room onsite, though we wouldn’t say no to a packet of chocolate digestives.

2. My staff’s financial affairs are their own business

In the new age of financial wellness this is the wrong attitude completely. The financial pressure often felt by staff outside of work can impact hugely on morale, productivity and even physical and mental health. Any help that you can give them which deals with any of their financial stresses – of which a mortgage is usually the biggest – is going to be seen as a real benefit and will show that you care about all elements of their wellbeing.

3. I will be liable for the advice given

The issue of liability is another big fear for employers who worry about the legal implications of such advice should something go wrong. But employers aren’t liable at all for the advice. At Charles Cameron we take full responsibility for all advice given – so don’t worry. There is no chance you will be getting sued for the advice we give.

4. It will distract my staff and take up their time

In our mortgage surgery sessions we offer onsite advice in one-on-one meetings for your staff with our mortgage brokers. That means staff attending the meetings have to give up some of their normal work time – usually half an hour – to do something that isn’t work-related. You may worry that’s distracting them from work, but by helping them with their mortgage questions and worries we are actually helping them better focus – and most likely preventing the online research that could be going on within work time without our help.

5. It’s hard to set-up

As well as being free, the benefit of offering mortgage advice in the workplace is that it can be really easy to do. Once a partnership is agreed between Charles Cameron and an employer, we do pretty much all of the hard work for you and will tailor what we provide to your requirements. We do ask you to provide a meeting space but this can just be a small office provided for a day or half a day either each month or quarterly. If preferred, we can also do telephone or online video meetings. All we ask is that you help us promote the offer to your staff – either through posters or email communications that we will provide. We even build a co-branded website portal that takes care of all the bookings. It really is that simple.

This article was provided by Charles Cameron.

Charles Cameron & Associates are whole of market, fully independent mortgage brokers based in London. The company provides its services to more than 130 professional firms and also works closely with a number of employee benefit providers. 

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In partnership with Charles Cameron & Associates

Charles Cameron & Associates is a fully independent, whole of market Mortgage Brokerage.

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