Febelfin Academy lets credit intermediaries train wherever and whenever they want
The e-learning is based on practical cases, such as buying an electric bike.
Consumer credit and mortgage providers are required to follow two years of compulsory training. During this time, they need to keep their knowledge up to date and test it by completing five hours of training per lending activity. Together with Neo, the e-learning division of Xylos, Febelfin Academy has developed an online course that allows intermediaries to follow this training wherever and whenever they want.
Consumer credit and mortgage intermediaries are required to follow five hours of compulsory training for each loan product they provide, every two years. This two-year period starts on 1 January following their registration as an authorised intermediary – requirement set by the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA). Febelfin Academy, the training institution for the financial sector, is providing this accredited course.
Credit intermediaries don’t just work in the banking sector; they can also be brokers, garage owners or sales assistants in a supermarket or any store that offers credit.
Selling credit competently means informing customers as accurately as possible. This means intermediaries need to be able to answer questions on anything, from an 18-year-old student who wants to buy a moped, to a customer who wants credit for installing solar panels on their roof.
Demand
Febelfin Academy is developing the e-learning courses so that credit intermediaries can follow the online training on a computer, tablet or smartphone, wherever and whenever they want.
Febelfin Academy and Neo, the e-learning division of Xylos, developed two online courses in the space of five months.
Cases
The e-learning program uses real-life situations and consists of ten cases, which can all be completed individually and take 15 to 20 minutes each. You’re given access to the theory you need before and during the case to give you all the necessary background information and relevant points for attention Then, after each case, you’re given feedback to say if it has been completed successfully, with varying success, or unsuccessfully.
The consumer credit cases look at renovating a house or buying a new family car, electric bike or kitchen, for example.
The mortgage lending cases, on the other hand, cover a range of purchases: a garage, horse stables, a holiday home in France, first-time buyers, a bridging loan for a new house, a buy-to-let flat, and a property with parents acting as guarantor.
“We’re very pleased about our rewarding collaboration with Neo”, says Ann Vanlommel, Managing Director of Febelfin Academy. “They didn’t just nod their heads and get on with things, they also challengedus. This is something you’d like to expect from suppliers, but most don’t really consider things together with you like this. The people from Neo proved their expertise, and we’re definitely open to working with them again on new projects in the future.”
2
e-learning for consumer credit and mortgage providers
10
different, short, powerful cases
1000
credit intermediaries expected to follow the e-learning course this year
Expertise
“We’re expecting over 1000 credit intermediaries to follow the e-learning course every year, which will lead to continued professionalisation in the sector. We firmly believe that e-learning will help maintain the profession’s good reputation, and hopefully even enhance it. This in turn will lead to more satisfied customers, because they’re being given all the right information. The e-learning course ensures credit intermediaries take the customer’s needs into account. They need to be certain the loan can be repaid, so it’s essential they can ask all the right questions and give all the right answers. They need to be able to explain the annual percentage charge for a loan, for example.”
“E-learning helps ensure intermediaries’ knowledge is kept up to date and tests their ability to broker a deal for a loan or purchase on credit”, says Ann Vanlommel. “The course can be completed all at once or in sections spread over a single day or longer. With Neo, we’ve provided a new type of learning that will help credit intermediaries and their customers.”
“We’re convinced that the e-learning will help maintain the credit intermediary’s good reputation, and hopefully even enhance it.”
Ann Vanlommel, Managing Director, Febelfin Academy
