Amy's Angle

Welcome to Amy's Angle

Every fortnight Amy Smith will give you a sneak peek into the mysterious world of secured lending. She will show us her take on the industry, whether it be good, bad, happy or sad.
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New Year evolution...

Monday 9th January 2012
  Firstly Happy New Year and what a year it's going to be! North Star is evolving nicely; we now have three new team members Katrina Treherne (O'Rouke) as a Business Development Manager - Katrina has over 25 years experience in the industry and is formerly of BM solutions. Katherine Simmons also as a Business Development Manager - Katherine is formerly of Paymentshield, Gmac, Edeus and Natwest. The experience these guys have is extensive and they both have solid broker relationships. Also Claire Adams joins as Business Administrator and is settling in very well! We are also looking to recruit an underwriter so it's going to be a manic month for me! I have just got over the Christmas funding rush; it was so frustrating that lenders decided not to fund Friday 23rd and some also in the last week of December I had cases just sat there waiting to complete and the frustration of that is hard to switch off from! I have picked up on a real lack in service from some lenders the last two months and hopefully that can be put down to the festive period as I hate to think those lenders respected for good service will lose it....
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What will 2012 bring?

Monday 5th December 2011
  What a three weeks it has been!   The MBE has come and gone for another year. Was nice to catch up with everyone and listen to the different outlooks for 2012. I spent most of my time on the Precise stand – they had wine and sandwiches so it was a networking dream! Thanks guys!   Party wars then started and I attended Mo's party which was great and even better with Mo as head doorman (clip board included)!   It's been three weeks of setting foundations for the New Year; there is no chance of a wind down to Christmas however as thankfully my pipeline is healthy! Next blog I will hopefully be welcoming two new members to the team!   Looking forward to seeing what 2012 brings for the secured loan market. I still remain positive despite the negativity that surrounds us. I like to think the 2nd charge market is in its own little bubble at present – we have products now that we would not dreamed of a year ago!   With funders such as Shawbrook and Central getting stronger by the day it's seems they have all the products I need at the moment. The poor underwriters at Shawbrook are fed up of me...
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New starts...

Monday 14th November 2011
  What a couple of weeks! As some of you will be aware I have now left Pink Pig Loans to create a new company 'North Star Financial' so from now on my blog will be brought to you from the North Star News desk!    Very exciting times ahead and I intend to develop a solid business model to provide solutions and service to brokers.    North Star will package secured loans and bridging finance along with commercial term options. I am, as always just at the end the phone so feel free to call!    So we have seen a few lenders make changes and restrict lending over the last few weeks, this seems to be only temporary and purely down to volumes of business which only confirms how this industry is growing.    This, however, now gives us an opportunity to develop relationships and increase volumes with those lenders that have worked hard to find their place in the market more recently, which in turn will help them to continue improving and open up to a wider market. Dare I say it but the word choice may well make a return to brokers’ vocabulary! I also strongly believe we will be seeing some new entrants in the next...
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Moving the goalposts

Monday 31st October 2011
Relief!! As Wales get knocked out of the world cup! Would have been embarrassing for an English national resident here in sunny Wales so phew, panic over.    Mrs Rainbird has been helping out this week! Much better sight opposite me than Mr Rainbird and definitely not as grumpy! Hopefully we will see a lot more of her...   ‘Moving the goal posts’ is something we see a lot of in this industry from lenders. Although you can argue this is what brokers were invented for and I for one enjoy this aspect of the job, it can however be disheartening and frustrating as we are left to pick up the pieces and to re assure our clients that we do know what we are doing! I just hope that the overall position of each funder in the market remains firmly in place as the goal posts seem to be slightly wobbly at present.   However it’s not all negative. A visit from Central Trust’s Buster on Thursday was a great uplift and I’m almost certain they have and will continue to find themselves on many brokers’ panels. Their aim to take the ‘best’ aspect of each current lenders products and criteria is refreshing.   Also Link Loans re...
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Celebrating newness

Monday 3rd October 2011
So England are through to the quarter finals!!! I’m just praying Ireland beat Wales as I could not cope with the abuse I would be served if we met them and lost!     I am still recovering from a night out with the infamous Mr Terry Pritchard on Thursday. Although there were no double Decker bus or Jag incidents there were many incidents to say the least! Rainbow bailed on us at 11pm so me and Terry showed the 80’s club how it’s done until approximately 3am supported by Mr. Sambuca. Subsequently I had to be driven to work on Friday as I was still slightly intoxicated.   New seems to be the main theme of things at the moment. New products are making a massive difference to my ability to find “Perfect” packs for my brokers and clients. Pink Pig new on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Join me there and let’s “Network”. New telephone number– It’s a great one 08000 353735!   However we have seen a few restrictive changes this week in the new criteria mentioned above. I like to remain positive and believe this is just because the lenders need more staff to cope with all the great business we have in this...
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