The facility is available at www.impartial.co.uk.
Following mortgage regulation in 2004, IFAP has been working behind the scenes with its members to collate details of ‘gold standard’ IFAs who are independent for mortgages and all other financial products, in a bid to ensure consumers receive truly independent advice when making one of the biggest financial decisions.
Recent research by the organisation shows that 78% of borrowers take out one or more insurance or investment products alongside a mortgage (1.4 products on average). In particular:
Over half (52%) of borrowers take out life insurance with their mortgage, and 31% take another form of financial protection.
28% of borrowers started an investment plan alongside their mortgage in the last five years, down from 69% of those who got their mortgage a decade or more ago.
IFAP’s new online search facility lists details of over 5,000 of its members who list mortgages in their top 8 business areas. IFAP has ensured that all of the mortgage IFAs within the site are authorised by checking their mortgage status with the FSA. IFAP has also specifically asked each member to certify their independence regarding mortgage advice. The new site, www.impartial.co.uk, runs along similar lines to IFAP’s general ‘Find an IFA’ online search function and allows consumers to select the most appropriate mortgage IFA local to them, including those who specialise in the following areas:
General mortgage advice
Buy-to-let
First-time buyers
Overseas
Remortgage
Right-to-buy
Self-employed
100% mortgages
Commercial for individuals
Flexible
Refused credit
Residential
Self-build
Equity release
In the same way that www.unbiased.co.uk operates, consumers can also make use of additional selection criteria including, postcode, gender and IFA qualifications. Consumers can select from 6 mortgage specific qualifications, including MAQ, CeMAP, CF6, CF7, MAPC and LMAPC, as well as 15 generic incremental qualifications. Currently over 5,318 incremental qualifications are listed on the Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Mortgage IFA database.
Karen Barrett, Marketing Director of IFA Promotion comments: “Arranging a mortgage is one of the biggest single financial commitments any of us make, and therefore one of the biggest triggers to consider other financial products. We have therefore been working behind the scenes to build a confidential service that focuses specifically on Mortgage IFAs, who can offer whole market advice to consumers, not only on all aspects of the mortgage remit, but also on additional investment and insurance products which may be purchased at the same time.
She continued: “We have been liaising with our members to collate this information, and we have built a service that offers the same unique features found on www.unbiased.co.uk. In much the same way that consumers can select an IFA by location, gender, expertise and qualification, they can now do this on the new website for Mortgage IFAs.”
