Dear Listener

Disintermediated. Is that the future for mortgage advice? Or, rather, will disintermediation strike a fatal blow to the profession of mortgage broking? (don’t worry no-one in the Money Box team knew what it meant either). And is it a profession anyway?

To the background of police helicopters and sirens 100 mortgage brokers gathered on Thursday evening to discuss their future. They are intermediaries – sitting between the lenders and the borrower and, the borrower hopes, finding the best deal. But about half of all borrowers search online or go to direct to the lender. And a significant group of lenders refusing to make their products available through brokers (hence no fees for recommending that product). So will mortgages follow car insurance, bought and sold directly without an intermediary – in other words disintermediated. So now you – and the Money Box team – know.

There was no definitive answer of course. Many brokers told me that business had been flat but was now looking up. But the Big Debate, which I chaired in the wonderful Debating Chamber of the old Greater London Council, was passionate. They also discussed how to become more of a profession like accountants and solicitors. But when one panellist pointed out that the least qualified person in the housing sales chain – the estate agent – earned the most from each transaction and the most qualified – the solicitor – earned the least, the demand to become professional became rather muted.

Sadly time prevented us from getting to the last question ‘How should advisers deal with misleading stories in the press’. So I could remain impartial throughout. And left quietly without joining in the demonstrations a few hundred metres away at the Palace of Westminster.

**IN MONEY BOX THIS WEEK***

About one in three pension schemes will have to start using the Consumer Prices Index rather than the Retail Prices Index to increase pensions in payment each year. The other two thirds will not be forced to do so nor will they be given extra powers to enable them to impose such a change on their members. We had expected those new powers but the Government said this week it would not do it.

The Payments Council – which is a consortium of the banks – wants to end the use of cheques. But a year since it said it wanted to do that what alternatives does it have?

Another 400,000 people will pay higher rate tax (see last week’s newsletter for why) and there will be tough new rules on furnished holiday lets in a raft of tax changes announced by the Treasury.

Annuities, which are not compulsory at 77 (the new 75), will no longer be even sort of compulsory at any age – unless you have a pension income of less than £20,000 a year. The changes will benefit a few tens of thousands of the best off and in fact make people with less than £20,000 a year pension income have rather less than they have now.

And cut price shops pound each other with lower and lower prices in the pound shop wars.

And speaking of prices petrol has hit a new high 121.76p per litre today – which is five pounds ten shillings and eightpence halfpenny per gallon.

Find out what record makes it into Money Box, live on Saturday at 1204. Or catch the repeat at 9pm on Sunday. Or listen again any time on our website www.bbc.co.uk/moneybox. There you can also read web pieces, download transcripts, follow links, and send us stories or ideas you want us to look into and Have Your Say on the end of cheques.

Best wishes,

Paul

PS don’t forget the programme trail on Breakfast on BBC 1 between 0845 and 0900 on Saturday. And the new Monday spots around 0640 and 0810 with a personal finance story and viewers’ emails.

You can follow my random thoughts every day at www.twitter.com/paullewismoney

e-mail Paul Lewis