“It’s so much harder to get a mortgage now than even 10-15 years ago when the market was more relaxed. Interest rates were lower, there just wasn’t so much red tape – that’s why it’s a renter’s market.”
How do you become successful in the mortgage industry?
Aziz, who’s self-employed with broker firm Access Financial Services, started out on what was – in his words – an energetic, aggressive trading floor in Foreign Exchange Market (Forex) trading.
“I would pick up the phone over a hundred times a day trading currency pairs with my clients,” he told Mortgage Introducer. “After the crash of 2008, I struggled to pick up the phone to another client, until one day I answered it. Lloyds Banking Group was looking for someone with financial sales experience and business acumen for their business banking team.”
After two-and-half-years navigating a steep learning curve across eight different branches of Lloyds, Aziz was offered a new opportunity with the Islamic Bank of Britain.
“They wanted someone with conventional banking experience who was fond of networking,” he said. “At that point I had never even heard of Islamic finance. As a Muslim I was aware enough to know that Shariah (Islamic law) prohibited the collection and payment of interest, but that was it.