Just Mortgages self-employed division to be 500 strong by 2022

The self-employed division at Just Mortgages is on track to be 500 brokers strong by January 2022.

Speaking at the Just Mortgages Self Employed Conference at the Belfry earlier this month, director Carl Parker claimed that broker numbers – currently standing at 190 – will hit 240 by January 2020, 350 by January 2021 and 500 by January by 2022.

In 2016, Parker set up the self-employed division to offer a solution to brokers who are looking to go self-employed but worried about giving up the support they get from a fixed contract.

At the time, there were just three brokers, but the model proved so popular that by December 2017 there were 81.

A year later, broker numbers had almost doubled to 140. Now, there are 190 in the self-employed division, with a further 40 brokers currently going through the application process.

The support staff has also grown significantly, with eight area directors now on board and the ninth set to join in September.

As a result, lending in the self-employed division has gone from £36 million in 2016 to £390 million in 2017, £700 million in 2018 and is on target for £1 billion of lending in 2019.

Parker said the self-employed division’s success is down to the fact it offers the best of both worlds.

“The broker is self-employed, and therefore, in control of their own destiny,” he added, “but they have a dedicated sales manager to help and support them.”

“In just three years, we have seen broker numbers go from three to 190 and we expect the popularity of the model to continue, helping broker numbers reach 500 by the start of 2022.”

Just Mortgages is also now working with two major lead providers to provide mortgage leads to the self-employed brokers, Parker added.

He concluded: “With the two partnerships in place we will be generating hundreds of leads a day which our self-employed advisers can take advantage of if they want to.”