Later life lending qualifications should be part of standard qualifications to be able to advise on mortgages, according to Key Advice.

The equity release adviser’s response to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Future of the Mortgage Market Discussion Paper, which closes to consultation on 19 September, highlighted a need to ensure that older borrowers are being made aware of the full range of borrowing options.

Key suggested that merging CeMAP qualifications, which are required to advise on mainstream mortgages, with CeRER, which is the qualification currently required to advise on equity release, would be a “huge step forward”.

The firm said that mortgage brokers need to be “better prepared” to support customers’ later life lending needs, and believes a single standard mortgage qualification would ensure they are able to consider the full range of options available to borrowers aged 55-plus.

Alongside the harmonisation of qualifications, Key has also proposed that it should be mandatory for continuous professional development (CPD) to include an element of content specific to later life lending

Chief risk and compliance officer at Key, Charlotte Allen, said: “Introducing a single qualification to advise on all types of mortgages, including later life lending, would ensure that those over 55 are offered the right options according to their circumstances and be a step towards removing the lottery of outcomes being determined by what type of adviser a customer happens to engage at outset.”

Allen also suggested that the current qualifications regime does not reflect how the product landscape and customer needs have evolved in the later life lending market.

“Customers are coming onto the property ladder later, mortgages often have longer terms and taking mortgage debt into later life is becoming the norm,” she continued.

“All advisers should be able to talk to older customers about all the options available to them, even if some products are outside of the scope of the advice they wish to offer, and introducing a single qualification alongside industrialising referral mechanisms would be a positive step in breaking down the current silos and improving outcomes.”

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