What is a course guarantee worth?
August 30, 2009
When it comes to choosing a training company with which to study for your CeMAP, CeRER or CeFA qualification, they can sometimes come across as being much the same. However, delve a little deeper and you are likely to find a great difference between the various training courses available.
For example, how much experience do the trainers personally have? We are not necessarily Read more
Should exam prices be included in course fees?
August 27, 2009
When potential students of the CeMAP, CeFA or CeRER start to shop around for training courses, one of the first questions they often ask is whether or not the exam fees themselves are included in the course.
More often than not, as is the case at Beacon Financial Training, the exam fees are not included and there is a reason for this. When you register for your exams, the ifs School of Training sends out a syllabus and material with the exam registration. Many students know this and many try to learn the syllabus and take the exam using it and fail. If these materials were that easy to understand and learn at home, then most training companies would not exist as there would be no reason for them. However, training companies teaching CeMAP, CeRER and CeFA courses do exist because the ifs School of Training material is difficult to understand, makes heavy reading and the ifs was not set up to handle questions and queries and teach people directly.
In addition, some employers Read more
Challenge remortgage valuations to get best mortgage deals
August 24, 2009
Unfairly low valuations are causing homeowners to lose thousands on their property price. Mortgage advisors are encouraging homeowners to challenge a valuation if they think it is too low, otherwise they will miss out on the best mortgage deals available.
Homeowners have already seen house prices drop, in some cases by more than a third of their value, but some valuations are unnecessarily cautious and valuing homes far too low.
A low valuation can mean homeowners miss out on good remortgage deals because it means they have less equity in their property. As a result, the homeowner could be forced to pay hundreds of pounds more per month than they need to.
Banks and building societies are using regional house prices or average mortgage valuations for the area instead of realistic, individual house surveys so those remortgaging are not even paid a proper visit by a surveyor but instead get an estimated price for similar houses in the area, which in some cases is the county you live in.
Many homeowners have added value to their homes through home improvement work.
Mortgage advisors are urging homeowners to challenge Read more
C&G may not close
August 21, 2009
Lloyds is reportedly considering a review of the earlier decision to close all the Cheltenham & Gloucester branches. The decision to close the C&G branches was made in June, which would see 164 branches close and 833 jobs lost.
The plan was that the branches should close in November this year but Read more
Building societies oppose Northern Rock plans
August 18, 2009
The Building Societies Association (BSA) has made a complaint to the European Commission about the plans for the Northern Rock bank.
It states the restructure will cause problems for the building societies by having an unfair advantage in the mortgage market.
Instead, the BSA believes Northern Rock should become a bank specifically Read more
Lodgers help pay off mortgage
August 15, 2009
It seems that renting a room out to a lodger has become much more popular this year as figures show around 500,000 extra rooms have been let out as borrowers look to make it easier to pay their mortgages.
The Government allows a household to rent out a room and earn thousands of pounds per year tax free up Read more
Mortgages up by almost a quarter
August 12, 2009
This week the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) released figures showing that the number of mortgages issued in June jumped by 23 per cent to 45,000 mortgages.
This figure is a significant rise and the news will be welcomed by all those working or planning to work in the mortgage industry, including those on CeMAP training courses.
In fact, the total home mortgages paid out in Read more
Quantitative easing for cheaper mortgages
August 9, 2009
This week it was announced that the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee would be holding interest rates at the same rate, but to help lower the cost of borrowing and hopefully bring cheaper mortgages as a result, it would be pumping an additional £50 billion into the economy, a move that is known as quantitative easing (QE).
Quantitative easing has already been put in place to some degree and this extra £50 billion brings the total amount to £25 billion more than what was originally anticipated. The Bank of England has also said Read more
How organised is your training provider?
August 6, 2009
Training courses of any kind need to be organised well if they are to run smoothly, whether the course is for CeRER, CeFA or CeMAP training or of any other kind.
Before you book onto any training course with any training provider you might want to ask a few questions:
- check how often the training materials are updated. For example, the CeMAP syllabus changes twice a year as does the CeFA syllabus, so you need to be sure Read more
Do I need mortgage industry experience to become a mortgage advisor?
August 3, 2009
You may be wondering whether you require any prior experience of the mortgage industry to undergo CeMAP training and become a mortgage advisor, and what level of education is required or indeed expected?
Firstly, to undertake a CeMAP training course you don’t have to have had any mortgage industry experience. You can be completely new to the industry and still pass a course in
CeMAP training. Secondly, the CeMAP training exams are roughly Read more
