Peter Beaumont, Sales & Marketing Director at Mortgages plc, explained: “All brokers, whether directly authorised or an AR, need to be aware that if they accept business from introducers, it is themselves and not the introducer who is ultimately responsible if anything goes wrong. Brokers cannot simply wash their hands of fraudulent applications by blaming a wayward introducer. It is the intermediary who will have to answer to the FSA, their Principal (if an AR) and ultimately the police.”
Mortgages plc undertakes a comprehensive credit and risk assessment of every mortgage application submitted and is placing greater emphasis on identifying and dealing with fraudulent cases, as it sees its business volumes increase. Although at a low level, fraud is a constant issue for all lenders.
Beaumont continues: “We not only want to stamp out fraud, but any bad business practice being adopted by intermediaries. We maintain a list of brokers and introducers from whom we are not willing to accept business and have made the decision to share this list with our distribution partners in future.”
