As mentioned in this news section previously, mortgages will soon be regulated by the Financial Services Authority much in the same way as life, pensions and investments.
Proposals issued suggest that client recommendations for family, friends and contacts known as referrals will have strict rules placed upon them. In simple terms, if you are happy with your mortgage adviser and you offer the contact details for family, friends etc, the broker will not be allowed to telephone them directly but must write to them first formally.
Our view
This is a difficult one. We understand what the regulator is trying to achieve. Many people do not appreciate being "cold called" just because their friend has recommended them on.
Details of family and friends can be obtained sometimes under duress and sometimes by stealth and this is what they are trying to prevent. However, there may be instances where there is a genuine referral for a genuine need.
Our stance for being recommended on is very simple. Hundreds of people have been impressed with our service, like what we do and wish to refer on to others then they do so quite easily.
However, we generally do not telephone the individual, we actually wait until they make contact with us.
In simple terms, if it is a genuine recommendation, the referred person will contact us anyway.
How to recommend to your family and friends? Use the above menu in the tool bar to either tell a friend about this site or email a specific page to them.
Alternatively, give them our website address www.needanadviser.com or our telephone number 01543 677444.