Brokerage sets up John Charcol 2010

Over the years I used to hear of teh Big Boys who were the Biggest and Baddest borkers in town- so much clout that they arranged more mortgages than lenders themselves- then they wanted to show their muscle to form a cartel and bully lenders in to paying their cartel a higher level of proc fees and give them exclusive rates- well you know what they say - The bigger they are etc etc......

I have known all about John Charcol going back to the 70's when they were formed. I remember going to the UCB offices in the 80's and there was a special bin there marked JC. When I enquired what that meant I was told "these are the applications from John Charcol, most of them are binned." I was always amazed how they survived, pressure on consultants to bring in business, targets to meet no matter how they met them. Since regulation I really don't think much has changed there, except when Ricky Okey jumped ship! Amazed how they have survived with the FSA all this time. If they were a small brokerage they would have been fined, banned etc. But no! They are a "reputable company" in the eyes of the FSA and are treated like the Banks. Too much of a risk to see them fall. FSA would get more stick about TCF etc.

The only person I respect in John Charcol is Ray Boulger. He portrays himself as a genuine and knowledgeable man. I would strongly advise him to jump ship (as R Okey did...see previous message from jjf). We need people like him to support and speak on behalf of all mortgage brokers, small or big,and not to stay with a company who are obviously paying him well for his talents but who will make him look less credible and foolish if they are forced to close down! Ray, leave now and be a spokesman for all of us before it's too late. I fear the worse for John Charcol and only hope it's probable demise doesn't reflect back on all mortgage brokers and allow the FSA to continue their Nazi purge to callously eliminate all of us.

The only person I respect in John Charcol is Ray Boulger. He portrays himself as a genuine and knowledgeable man. I would strongly advise him to jump ship (as R Okey did...see previous message from jjf). We need people like him to support and speak on behalf of all mortgage brokers, small or big,and not to stay with a company who are obviously paying him well for his talents but who will make him look less credible and foolish if they are forced to close down! Ray, leave now and be a spokesman for all of us before it's too late. I fear the worse for John Charcol and only hope it's probable demise doesn't reflect back on all mortgage brokers and allow the FSA to continue their Nazi purge to callously eliminate all of us.

I knew there were problems with John Charcol from the early 1990s but things have been really bad recently. they used to think they were the biggest in town and were boasting over their ability they used to almost bully lenders into paying higher proc fees. it is sad about their recent problems but I can't help thinking that they brought a lot of problems onto themselves.

Interesting article. I suppose the writing was on the wall for a long time. i am surprised that they were hit by the recession so hard though. they have not been in great shape for years though. I guess if they refused ti comment, then it must be true. i feel for sorry for ray boulger.

I think John Charcol have had problems going back to the 70's when they were formed but yes I agree the problems got worse over the last 2 years. It was a shock that they survived. I think the FSA saw them as a too big and a reputable company. I'm suprised that the shareholders had such faith to put in so much cash. I think the KPMG report affected them. nobody was going to buy them after that.

well i accept their part in the self-cert problems but I don't think mortgage brokers or john charcol should be held as the complete scapegoat in all of the problesm cos they were basically selling what they could in a time when people were grabbing anything but those days are gone

When they couldn't find a buyer, i was surprised that its founders injected more capital and i don't really know why they did.

not sure about the previous comment because large broker firms may have transacted lots of mortgages, but they have massive overheads and have downsized and if that stil doesn't work, then they are in real trouble. The 'good years are probaby over but i thought things were getting better so if John Charcol are still in problems, then that is not good.

it is true that broker problem are felt by all brokers. Only fair brokers will say that for people due to remortgage over the last few years should not have becasue with the hiking of fees it just was not worth moving to another lender but Charcol have had their own sel-inflicted problems too. We should remember and not forget that charcol spent too much money on ISAs in the early 00's.

With charcol, they felt they were so big and put so much business the the lender's way, that they don't want to lose us, so they accept most of the clients we offer and it was a simple case of scratch my back. but if they go, the worrying this for a brokerage to be in problems is that brokers can see accounts and talk to people as humans - asking searching questions about things like debt to whcih consumers can answer whereas the banks will just say computer says no"

could be dodgy i wonder what this company will be used for? i remember John moulton of Alchemy defending having bought Charcol from B&B without doing much due diligence. said he was ok with that becasue he liked a gamble. i woner what he would say now

I believe that the Charcol/HSBC deal may have lost them a bit of warm feeling in the broker community. I thought it was a bit strange becasue with HSBCbeing a direct offerer so to have an 'independent' in the branch where you are offered both services is completly different to a direct only not being able to help sutomers and making a recommendation for a customer to go to a whole of market broker for that custo, with which I see no problem

why is anyone surprised that this has happened to them? the model would never work in the long run. I bet the advisers werent moaning when they were getting inflated, unsustainable proc fees and getting deals through, i think they may use the new vehicle as a way to keep the debt and i don't think there is anything wrong wth that but I'm not sure. they will prob find some away of justifyig it no doubt

not suprirsed that a john charcol spokesman did not want to comment. i think they have done everything humanly possible with the hscb deal mentioned above and partnerships with l and g and evauluate and of course their media presence and the restructuring of offices and ths is just part of it. i think they have been a bit unlucky but time must be up soon surely.

it might be a premature to say there is anything in this beyond a restructure but as the writer points out, they have had a olt of problems. i would add that they are wily customers and i would not be suprised if they scraped out of it and put a nice pr spin on it

I would agree but i think the ony thing we can be sure of is that john charcol are in financal problems but they have dealt it with well. they had to make redundancies which is sad but it happens and they have used their founders money to prop themsevles up. a lot of other brokerages have had to get themselves out of trouble too, llok at cobalt and coreco. it's just a shame they can't get taxpayer moey to help them out like our banks

I think it is a good thing that they have gone. Having worked for the company for over four years I can say that they treated their staff terribly, incourged targets over quality and this bad ethos from the management (senior/top) filtered through the company and ended up costing the company their reputation and which ultimately business. I would not recommend them.