The FSA said the ‘project’ will be used as the basis for communicating its findings, in particular examples of good practice it has observed.
The firms are also asked to provide a list of all mortgage applications submitted since ‘Mortgage Day’.
Key questions asked in the four-page questionnaire include: How does your firm ensure that appropriate advice is given and adequately disclosed; does you firm offer lifetime mortgages; does your firm offer non-regulated mortgage products and what arrangements have been made for issuing illustrations for compulsory (tied) products?
It also asks about the training given to ensure disclosure documents are correctly issued and the firm’s record-keeping.
Lara Mackie, partner at MSL Partnership, one of the firms sent the questionnaire, said: “This is a warning to all the small mortgage companies out there who think that the FSA are not going to bother with them for a while. Depending on our answers, and once it has seen a copy of all our documentation, the FSA will then decide if it is going to ask more questions or pay us a visit.”
Robin Gordon-Walker, spokesperson at the FSA, said: “We are looking at the fundamental things that firms are required to do. We tend to deal with small firms in a more thematic way. We are not trying to catch any firms out.”
