A Sussex-based mortgages company is building for success by hiring new staff.

Preferred Mortgages was founded in 1996 and now has about 13,000 customers and expects to be managing mortgage balances in excess of £1 billion by the end of the year.

It employs about 200 staff but is in the process of recruiting 30 more staff, mainly in customer services.

Simon Biddle, marketing and communications manager, said: "Preferred Mortgages is a true Sussex success story. It was formed by just three people and has grown rapidly on the back of lots of success in the UK mortgage market. In the past two years we've been achieving near triple-digit growth."

The Haywards Heath-based company offers mortgages to people in difficult or unusual circumstances, such as the recently self-employed or people with county court judgements against them. About a fifth of all applicants are refused mortgages by traditional lenders.

Mr Biddle said: "We have a wide range of jobs available. The customer services jobs don't require specific mortgage or financial services skills, although it might help.

"Obviously, some of the jobs, such as the underwriter positions do require technical skills."

The company offers competitive salaries and additional benefits, such as a pension scheme and medical insurance.

Preferred Mortgages was fortunate because it had a decent pool of suitable applicants from Sussex and further afield.

Mr Biddle said: "We've got people applying from across the county and even as far afield as Berkshire. There's also a large variety of experienced banking and insurance personnel to choose from.

"This level of growth won't continue indefinitely - we don't expect it to continue much beyond the end of the year - but this is still a good time to get involved in the mortgage industry."

For details, call Heather Adams on 01444 447664 or email heather.adams@preferredmort gages.com
Thursday March 13 2003