When the fixed rate ends

A fixed rate has an end date, and you usually know it years before it arrives. It sits in your diary as a reason to contact a client who will, around that time, be thinking about their money and ready to hear from you.

By the time a deal matures, the client’s circumstances may have changed. A remortgage is a moment to notice what has changed and to add one wider question, provided that question stays an introduction and does not become regulated advice.

The maturity date

The maturity date is fixed and known in advance, so unlike most planning moments it can be diarised. You can plan the contact, prepare for it, and reach the client before they start looking elsewhere. It is one of the few points where a client re-engages with you on a predictable schedule.

Because you know when it is coming, you can plan to raise the wider conversation then.

The client at maturity

When a rate is ending, the client is thinking about their finances without the pressure of a purchase. They have contacted you, or they expect to hear from you.

That makes it a better time for a wider conversation than the middle of a house move.

What has changed since the last deal

Over the two, three or five years since the client last fixed, the client may have had changes with financial consequences:

a child arrived, or another one
a job changed, or the client went self-employed
income rose, and a surplus started to build with no home for it
a business was started
a parent died and an inheritance came in
an old workplace pension was left behind at a job the client moved on from

Each of these is a financial event that may have gone unadvised, and the maturity conversation may be the first time anyone has revisited the client’s whole position since it happened.

What you gather at a remortgage

To arrange the new deal you re-collect income, outgoings, debts, dependants and plans. This gives you a current, complete picture of the client’s finances.

That picture often shows things the mortgage itself does not touch: a pension left unreviewed, the cash sitting idle, the protection that no longer matches the client’s commitments.

The one question you can add

Add one question. Something like: “While we are sorting the rate, is anyone looking at the pension and what that surplus should be doing? I work with a firm who handle that, and I can introduce you.”

The question points out that a wider need may exist and offers an introduction. It recommends no pension, investment or course of action. The client can say yes, or say they are fine, and either way you carry on with the remortgage you were already doing.

Where that question has to stop

Raising the subject and offering an introduction is within your permissions. If you tell the client to consolidate a pension, move money into an investment, or take a particular step with their savings, you have crossed into regulated advice you are not authorised to give.

You do not answer the regulated part, even when you have a fair idea of what the answer would be, because giving that answer is E&G’s responsibility and permission.

Making the introduction at maturity

With the client’s consent, you make a short warm introduction to E&G through the partner portal or a direct hand-off, and only what the client has agreed to is shared. The client is already engaged and the facts you have just gathered are current.

E&G gives the regulated advice, runs the administration and reports progress back to you. You keep the mortgage relationship, stay in view, and share in the value if the client goes on to be advised and invests.

Diary the maturity as a planning trigger

You already track maturity dates to win the product transfer or the remortgage. Treat that date as a planning prompt as well, with a note to ask the wider question when the client re-engages.

The date is already in your system, so this uses it for a second purpose.

Maturities when new lending is slow

Rate conditions move in ways no firm controls, and there are periods when new lending is slow and much of the activity is clients rolling onto new deals. In those periods you are still having maturity conversations.

Adding a wealth question to it gives you an advice-led conversation that does not depend on where rates sit. When the client’s monthly payment changes at maturity, their attention is on money, which makes it a suitable time for a wider question.

What the client gets from it

The client, who is thinking about money and talking to someone they trust, gets the chance of advice they might not seek out on their own.

You get a second reason to contact the client at every maturity, and a share in the recurring value if the client is advised and invests. Maturity dates recur, so the prompt repeats for the life of the relationship.

Questions brokers ask

Isn’t a rate review too transactional for a wealth conversation?

The rate is the reason for the contact. With no purchase, chain or deadline, the client can think about money without pressure, which makes it a better setting for a wider question than a house move. You raise it once, as an offer, and if the client is not interested you carry on with the remortgage.

What can I say without giving regulated advice?

You can point out that a wider need may exist and offer an introduction: that it might be worth someone looking at the pension or the savings, and that you work with a firm who do that. What you cannot do is recommend a course of action, such as consolidating a pension or moving money into an investment. Raising the subject and introducing the client is yours to do, and the advice is Equity & General’s.

Do I raise this at every maturity, even a five-minute product transfer?

A product transfer is often the easiest place to raise it, because it is low-pressure and quick and the client is not distracted by a purchase. Whether to raise it depends on the client and what you already know about them. Do not force it, and if a client has an adviser they are happy with, there is nothing to introduce.

How do I make sure I catch the right moment?

Diary the maturity date as a planning prompt as well as a commercial one. You already track maturities to win the next deal, so the note to ask the wider question sits on a system you already run. When the client re-engages, the prompt is there, and the facts you gather for the remortgage are current enough to make a good introduction.