A box on the budget planner section for child care costs, as at present there is no where available to put this,

The smartr system is not as simple as the key when it comes to the budget planner, on the key when we keyed in monthly outgoings in the budget planner, it would automatically work out the clients disposable income, but on smartr we have to figure this out manually by using a calculator to add up the clients monthly net income, then minus all of their expenditure to get their disposable income. It would be good if there was a similar function in smartr that figured this out automatically.

Can we get a more detailed budget planner

Budget planner not fit for purpose, it is poorly laid out and does not automatically include credit commitments. Needs to show net income

I agree with the comments already on feeding through the commitments, but I think the budget planner needs work overall to be more specific. This can be a useful tool for clients to really consider their spending before we sit down with them. As the client can access this themselves, I think it needs to be more specific. For example, I would break down transport to: car insurance / fuel / car tax / car repairs / public transport costs. Clients will forget things unless it is spelt out to them! This could then be a useful standalone download we could add to our suitability reports, for example.

Again how on earth is this under review when there's no LTV calculator,a proper Product transfer process, or any basic compliance function???

Proper calculators in mortgages

Why can't an extra tab be added to this section after Income / expenditure has been input, this then pulls through income minus expenditure to give a monthly surplus for the client and then allows new mortgage payments to be added in to prove affordability and ensure in line with clients budget

The expenditure box needs to automatically show on the client FF so it can't be missed.

Existing mortgages should auto populate from the existing properties section and credit commitments then auto populate from the commitments section.

The planner itself also need a more detailed breakdown to aid compliance and completing calcs/apps. (Our in house budget planner has 37 fields, some may think excessive but it can help with protection sales when clients realise the cost of the plan is nothing compared to what they spend on other things they class 'essential')

Council tax doesn't need to be an annual amount as this can confuse clients into thinking the planner is annual. (Also this field is asked multiple times during the FF, can it not auto populate once it's entered in one of them)

Once complete a budget page would be great that auto calculates the difference between income / outgoings then allows us a box to enter what the client feels comfortable with as their monthly mortgage and protection budget.

ability to amend net monthly salary. A lot of work to put in the figures which take it from gross monthly salary to net monthly salary so the ability to overwrite this figure is ideal

Net pay should be linked to expenditure and commitments so we can easily see how much a client has left each month for calculating a budget. It's a simple sum to do but seen as the system is supposed to be about saving us time it would be helpful if it could do this

Need a section for Net Income which is the calculation of Net Income - Outgoings - commitments

Need a section for Net Income which is the calculation of Net Income - Outgoings - commitments

OUr complilance review have requested that the Disposable income be a visable figure on the Fact Find

One last thing which would be really beneficial especially when it comes to completing a suitability report. Can the system auto calculate the disposable income by drawing the figures from income and outgoings to create the disposable income.

A snap shot of the clients basic income, bonus, commission etc. without having to go into the employment details and scroll down.

Fact Find - Budget Planner

I would like to see a 'client budget' section which can be used to set mortgage and protection budgets during the fact find, I use this situation currently as it produces much easier protection sales and also forms the basis for my advice for the mortgage term. Example I use a formula approach, Net income minus expenditure, leaves a Gross budget, I then allocate a safety net of 40-50% or more in conversation with the client, once deducted this leaves a Net budget which is split automatically 80/20, 80% for the mortgage and 20% for protection