Broker John Carter explains why he limits case volume, avoids targets, and sees CeMAP as part of the problem
For brokers under pressure to write more business faster, maintaining consistent advice quality can become a challenge. John Carter of Abode Mortgages Limited, based in Essex, said the key is knowing your own limits, and ignoring the industry’s obsession with targets.
Carter has been advising clients for over three decades, starting out with Barclays before moving through several banks and ultimately setting up on his own. He’s seen markets rise and collapse, including the 2008 crash that forced him to shutter a growing firm with 14 brokers. Today, he runs a small operation from home alongside his wife.
“I manage my level of business,” he said. That self-imposed cap is key to how he maintains consistency. “I know what I can do. I know what my limitations are, I know what my capabilities are... It's just managing your own abilities, really.”
Volume pressure and the risk to advice standards
He has little patience for firms that prioritise volume at the expense of advice. “Clients are getting the wrong products and firms are being taken to court for dodgy advice,” he said.
Carter is particularly sceptical of target-based remuneration. “You can't target financial services because [then] you are immediately opening up the problem areas... [and people] will make mistakes. And the mistakes will be worse as you go along.”
Carter believes the CeMAP does not sufficiently prepare new entrants for the complexity of client work. “Personally, I would like to see something far more in-depth introduced,” he says. “It needs to be almost up to degree level, it really does.”
He’s particularly concerned about experience levels. “There are mortgage brokers who are fresh out of school... they're giving advice to people and they're still living at home with their parents,” he says. “How can you possibly give advice like that?”
For Carter, it's not about age, but about life experience and professional readiness. “You should have the commitment to actually sit down there and gain that qualification. If you want to do this thing, get the qualification, work for it, earn it.”
Keeping standards high with the right systems
On compliance, he’s clear: “There can't be grey areas. Is this case, is this file compliant? Yes or no. Quite simple. If the bits that should be in there aren't in there, it's not compliant.”
Though Carter remembers working in an era of paper files and face-to-face meetings with bank managers, he’s fully embraced digital tools. “Revolution… it makes sure everything I'm doing is compliant,” he said of the CRM system provided through his network, Stonebridge.
The platform tracks documentation, flags missing data, and prompts advisers through each step of the advice process. “It shows me if I've missed bits. It shows you if I've forgotten to tick a box,” he said. “It does everything I need.”
For Carter, tools like this don’t replace judgement, but they help maintain standards, especially when adviser capacity is stretched.
Despite nearing 70, Carter continues to work, and not just to stay busy. “I love speaking to my clients... and you learn a bit more about their lives.”
For him, it comes down to professional boundaries and clarity. “You're being open with the client, then you are going to continue to provide good advice... and not overcommitting yourself.”
