At the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) Annual Conference, held on Tuesday, Briault said the regulator has begun looking at the product disclosure documentation being produced by the market.
He added that the regulator would use mystery shopping to establish whether consumers have access to the documents at the right time.
Briault told the audience that ‘less is more’ when it comes to KFIs following industry frustration with some lenders’ KFIs coming out at anything up to 14 or 15 pages.
But brokers insist that the FSA must do more than just consult with the top lenders on this issue.
Danny Lovey, sole trader at The Mortgage Practitioner, said: “The FSA is apparently talking to lenders about KFIs. But what about us? We are the ones that have to deal with these documents but it seems we have just been left hanging out to dry.”
Lovey suggested that KFIs should at least have a standardised front page where all the crucial information is highlighted in clear, simple terms.
And Steve Brockman, director of A2B Mortgage Company, who wrote in to support MI’s ‘Get The Facts Straight’ campaign, commented: “Hopefully, when the FSA/lenders look at the matter again, common sense will prevail as there seems to be a distinct lack of it being shown at the moment.”
Mark Lofthouse, chief executive of Mortgage Brain, said he would welcome any moves by the FSA to consult with the sourcing system over formulating a standardised KFI across the whole industry.
He said: “We support a standard format for KFIs where the documents are no longer than 4 to 5 pages. The FSA saw our KFIs before ‘Mortgage Day’ and we would be happy for it to consult with us.”
· To lend your support to our ‘Get The Facts Straight’ campaign e-mail Dippy Singh at [email protected]
