Do You Trust Your Banker?

It is difficult to work with someone who may be losing their faculties, and it is a question that I have asked myself when I have thought about helping her. Beyond what I can offer her, what would be the best thing for her in general, and would what I suggest be at all a good idea? A number of times in the past I have heard a client tell me that their bank told them that they couldn’t help, but the advice they had for the client was “come back in a year and we can try again” and not “go to x person and they could help you now”. Generally speaking, if the banks cannot offer their solution, they will not offer any solution.

Having met with the client and knowing her fairly vulnerable condition, it seems to be that the best thing for her would be to sell her home, invest money in an investment that would provide her a good return and would be stable and safe like private mortgage investment and also spend some of her sale proceeds and move into an assisted living retirement home.

For better or worse, I do not like to view myself as a salesperson as much as a solutions provider specializing in mortgages. If I am selling something, I really need to believe in what I am providing is a good product or service for the person’s needs. If I cannot do something that is ideal, I will tell them what I can do, and I will generally say or agree with them that its not the ideal solution.

If you are going to your bank right now, do you really believe that the advice you are getting is the best for your needs? Seeing firsthand how it is working for a bank, I know that the employees work very hard and they have significant sales targets that they need to meet. If they do not meet them, they could lose their job, be reassigned to a less desirable position or be one of the first ones laid off during restructuring or downsizing. I understand the pressures they face, and I empathize with them for that. However, no matter how knowledgeable they are, they are caught in an inherent conflict of interest situation where they meet their numbers or face consequences. Further, your bank considers you to be their property as far as financial matters go, and generally will not do anything to risk losing ownership of your financial relationship with them.

When I work with clients, I know I am not the only option, and while I do feel that I should be able to count on further business with a client, I believe that I have it based on loyalty for past work that I have done.

At the end of the day, when you walk into your branch for a mortgage, beyond whatever rate they offer you that may save you a few dollars a month on your mortgage, or banking fees, etc…as great as those things may be, what is your trust in the bank costing you? Even if I do not have the very best rate at a given time, my client can count on me to put them in the best situation possible and I am not tied to one possible source or product or provider for the solution and I will have different possibilities to meet your goals that you likely aren’t even familiar with.

Do you want a cookie-cutter mortgage, or do you want financial solutions? Do you want integrity? Canada Innovative Financial – Mortgage Architects is a member of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and am licensed for what I do, which the bank mortgage specialists are not. Contact me today, I look forward to helping you.