Posing as customers wanting a mortgage, its researchers visited 50 banks, advisers and estate agents. Shockingly they found that 41 failed to provide at least one key piece of information required by the FSA, with just four giving advice to an acceptable standard.
Advisers failed to say if their services involved giving advice as well as information, they failed to show the customers an initial disclosure document, or they failed to give them a key facts illustration. Too many advisers appeared more interested in selling insurance than doing a full factfind and tailoring their findings to the client’s needs, according to Which? Two thirds of the advisers tried to sell the researcher an unsuitable insurance policy at the same time, according to Which?.
The researchers visited advisers in England and Scotland earlier this year. Of these, 24 were banks or building societies, 13 were estate agents and 13 were independent mortgage advisers.
