MBE for Martin

Calchas

I had assumed that perhaps it was beneficial for some advisers to participate on the site.

There is no doubt that they contribute an awful lot to MoneySavingExpert and they must surely encourage people to keep frequenting the site, purely because of the amount of good advice given.

This must benefit Martin Lewis! Does he really get all that for nothing?

Do not the advisers sometimes benefit frrom private messages asking for a bit more help than can be given on the forum itself?

I am not trying to make mischief! It may well be that the advice is totally free. It's just that I tend to see altruism less and less often as the years go by.

No offence is meant!!!

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax

I've had people off here PM me for advice and never taken it further than giving free advice. I'm not sure if any of the advisers who come on here have got any clients off here, but I bet it would be very very few.

blossomcat

He also benifits lots of charities , and assists people to get further training. Yeah he makes money from it. But he set it up and has helped so many people just by doing that.millions now use the site , and help each other with advise and support . I havent yet found a site that comes close to it !
He had given advice that have help people save money even get money back from banks ect. Isnt that a good thing ? i think so .

Calchas

As at the time stated above:

Threads: 733,839, Posts: 9,537,340, Members: 363,081

The figures speak for themselves blossomcat.

If it is possible to earn a living whilst helping others :A it must be better than making money to the detriment of people! :eek:

An MBE? I would guess better people didn't get one and worse people did!

No offence meant to Mr Lewis either. Truth of the matter is I frequent his website and it, together with its members, has been of huge beneft to me! :j

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax

Nobody is knocking the website and the help that people give each other! It's the unregulated, poor 'advice' he gives regarding mortgages, which is no more valid than your mate at the pub who's just had 4 pints, that I have issues with.

Suddenly, overnight, everybody is a Mortgage Expert. Everybody thinks they can do a better job than professionals at finding their own mortgage.

It's like owning a Ferrari and trying to fix an engine fault your self. Getting it wrong will cost you a fortune and eventualy some Ambulance Chaser claims company will come up with some scheme 'Have you taken the advice of Martin Lewis? We can claim you back thousands on what you would have saved if you'd used a professional adviser'.

HelpWhereIcan

While I don't think Martin is worthy of a Knighthood or MBE just yet ...

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax wrote: »

I think he's largely responsible for a lot of the troubles the country is having just now within the financial services industry.

Encouraging people to waste peoples time in getting good advice from experienced professional advisers only to encourage them then to go direct to lenders is unethical, even if it is money saving...

I'm sure he would love to believe that he is so powerful as to be single handedly responsible for the credit crunch and rate tarts but I don't think he is.

I have been in the industry since 1995 and have come across tyre kickers and timewasters in one form or another ever week since then.

I started with Britannic and often had customers say to me "the man from Pru/Pearl/Refuge/CIS has quoted me this what can you get?"

I have heard this "encouraging people to go direct to lenders" accusation from other brokers, but it just suggests that they have not read the mortgage advice article at all let alone properly.

As we all know Martin advises the use of L&C and other fee free nationals if they cannot find someone local and I find it sad to see someone who posts on the site as regularly as Ian now does regurgitate this fallacy.

Indeed, those of us who have been coming here for sometime have seen his very positive message about brokers ... not that we have to agree with everything he says to acknowledge this.

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax wrote: »

Martin Lewis can be credited with owning a good website consisting of posts from other users, not him.

I have found that the actual articles section of the site is very useful .. as I have found when looking for ways to save on holidays, credit cards etc etc and find it strange when some people think the forum is the site in totum.

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax wrote: »

Sorry, but some of the scaremongering and poor journalism than comes from Martin makes me cringe sometimes.

I agree with this to one extent or another, but Martin is less guilty of this than many journalists.

I have found most of what he says on mortgages to be accurate, but tend to disagree strongly on his opinion of Critical Illness cover and over-simplification of the income protection market.

dmg24 wrote: »

To be fair, I doubt that IGF, a financial services professional, would need to take advice from a journalist.

To be fair, I think it would be only the most arrogant of people who claimed not to have learned anything from this site ... bank charges? council tax re-bandings etc etc

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax

I typed a lengthy response, but the site kicked me out as it often does when you want to put a detailed post together.

I can't be bothered retyping it.

Calchas

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax wrote: »

I typed a lengthy response, but the site kicked me out as it often does when you want to put a detailed post together.

That has happened to me too. It is frustrating to say the least.

I tend to use Word and then copy it if I think I may need to take some time. Does this idea rival that of your partner's recipe for tomato and basil soup?

I find Firefox to be more of a culprit than Internet Explorer when it comes to timing out!

DaisyFlower

I think the site is great and there are good and bad ideas posted. There is also a real sense of community on some of the boards.

The only part I really hate is the bank charges, its portrayed as the banks being greedy and everyone should claim them back. In reality, people need to take responsibility for their own actions, if you spend somebody elses money you deserve to get charged.

I wouldnt go as far as an MBE - there are far more deserving people out there.

Calchas

DaisyFlower wrote: »

if you spend somebody elses money you deserve to get charged.

Charged, yes; but ripped off? Extortion comes in many guises and whilst some forms may not be illegal, moral and ethical they most certainly aint!