20Twenty Mortgages Ltd welcomes the Commons statement . John Muldoon, Mortgage Code compliance officer, said: "This is definitely good news for the mortgage industry and consumer alike. The Mortgage Code Compliance Board has proved to be an excellent starting point for developing compliant advice processes and highlighting the need for quality assured information. Now, I look forward to the FSA rolling out the project and expanding the consumer protection perspective."
Britannic Money made a rallying call to the mortgage industry to co-operate fully with the FSA and ensure that the process of regulation for mortgage advice is implemented as soon as possible.
Britannic Money’s chief executive Tony Ward, said: "Some areas within the responsibility of the lender – such as the financial promotion rules and the information disclosure regime – should be moved along to the original timetable. We don’t see the need to wait until mortgage advice is regulated before introducing major parts of the current FSA proposals."
Ward continued: "The Treasury’s move to regulate mortgage advice is a huge step in the right direction for consumers, lenders and mortgage intermediaries. Britannic Money has actively lobbied for the regulation of mortgage advice for several years and we are absolutely delighted by the Treasury’s announcement this week."
Toby Strauss, managing director of Charcol, commented: "The mortgage regulation announcement heralds a new and welcome era for the mortgage market. Regulating advice will bring about enormous benefits. Ultimately, the winners will be the borrowers."
"We strongly believe that the majority of customers actively benefit from full mortgage advice and as the leading independent mortgage adviser, we have been consistently supportive of regulated advice. Although CP98 (the current regulation guidelines put forward by the FSA) was a step in the right direction, it underplayed the importance of advice by stopping short of full regulation. The announcement shows the FSA and the Treasury have acknowledged the full value that mortgage advice offers the customer."
"It is a welcome and logical step for an industry that given the intermediary market is likely to arrange around £70 billion of lending this year. It will provide greater clarity and protection for the consumer in what is currently a very complex regulatory environment. In practice, most customers seeking mortgage advice simultaneously receive advice on regulated products such as life assurance and permanent health insurance and of course general insurance, which will also benefit from a streamlined regulatory environment. This will streamline the advisory process making it more efficient for the adviser and ultimately more robust for the consumer."
