Nick Mendes – Mortgage Technical Manager

Nick Mendes, Mortgage Technical Manager for John Charcol, talks about his journey into the mortgage industry and dealing with dyslexia

Joining the industry

My journey into the financial industry wasn’t your usual story. Prior to moving to secondary school, a test highlighted that I was dyslexic and two years behind. Secondary started how primary ended and I quickly fell behind the others in my class. Saturday school allowed me to catch up, but I accepted university wasn’t the right option for me.

I originally planned to do an apprenticeship after college, but a summer work experience placement for those going to university arose and, despite not having the intention of going to university – I never understood why opportunities were given to some and not others – I applied and was successful. The placement lasted for 3 months. Although I lacked experience, my dedication to improve, question and outperform resulted in management asking me to stay on. I was placed on the Lloyds head start programme (which was coincidentally yet again only open to university graduates at the time).

Working in mortgages was a natural step for me as my passion to educate, support individuals and aid businesses is something I have enjoyed throughout my career.

From then to now

My role within John Charcol has many hats: advising clients, supporting the sales team with their product knowledge as well as acting as a point of contact for any complex cases, engaging with the marketing team on technical content and providing market commentary to the media. Moving into PR and representing the historic brand of John Charcol in the press is an opportunity I would never have imagined when I first stepped into the industry.

After all, how many ethnic minorities are the face of a financial institution?

And the future?

My focus is to provide opportunities:

• From a client perspective – I enjoy educating people and ensuring homeowners and future owners are aware of their options – from first-time buyers, to those remortgaging, to clients with adverse credit or complex situations and more;
• To new intakes and those thinking of joining our fantastic industry – I think it’s important to pass on experience and advice so others can grow and become better, enabling them to better service their clients;
• For putting John Charcol back on the map – John Charcol is a fantastic brand, made up of great people who work hard every day and put clients first. I enjoy doing my part in making sure John Charcol is a client’s first point of call when it comes to getting advice;
• Within the industry – despite this being a fantastic industry to be involved in, there is unfortunately an underlining issue at its core which needs to change: it’s outdated and doesn’t provide equal opportunities to everyone. I firmly believe we need to work together to make this a safe and inclusive environment for everyone to work in – and I hope to use the opportunity given to me in this role to do my part and encourage others to do theirs.