Special Official Note For Mortgage Brokers

MSE_Martin

Dear Mortgage Broker MoneySavers,

I know many of you graciously give up your time to help people out on the boards. In the early days there were just a couple of you, now there are quite a few.

One of the special permissions is to allow you to write in your signature who you are as it helps people. Yet different people do it in different ways and this can cause issues. What I'd like to do therefore is standardise the signatures of MBs here - so its the same for all.

My two remits in this are

1. I want people to know you are mortgage brokers
2. I want to allow you to ensure people don't think this is registered advice.

This is my first suggestion:

I am a mortgage broker at INSERT MORTGAGE BROKER (NOT HYPERLINKED). All of my posts are my own personal opinion, and should not be interpreted as either finacial advice, or an official company stance.


I am more than willing to listen to suggestions and debate on this. Of course I will make the final decision - but if we could all work on this together then I think that's the best way.

Alternative suggestions and additions - changes - lets get the discussion open. Thanks

Martin

IMPORTANT UPDATE

This thread is only for discussing the signature situation. Please do not go off topic on it. If someone else does, pls don't respond, this is an important thread to discuss the policy.

Towards the end of this week - I will be reading through the thread and making a decision. After that there will be one signature and that will be it - no others will be allowed - so do have you say on the signature issue now.

Thanks

Martin

AndrewSmith

Hi Martin,

Happy to go along with whatever you suggest.

Do you think that my signature is outside the remit of what you are looking for?

Would welcome the feedback from yourself.

Cheers

Andy

P.S. Good interview this morning

southernscouser

Can I stick my oar in please?

No offence to the above poster or anyone else but the point size in your signature makes me not want to bother to read it! :think:

Perhaps there should be a minimum point size rule?

Sorry AndrewSmith. No offence intended! :beer:

AndrewSmith

NO offence taken :beer:

Sometimes it needs someone else to tell you what you cannot see at the end of your nose.

I kept the point size small so that it could not be construed as self promoting in any way by being more obvious than the content of the post it follows.

Cheers

Andy

regularsaver1

I have noticed a lot of messages asking for advice recently (something that should not happen) - text can be mis-read and taken as advice.

Suppose, regardless of our status, we all need to be careful on this one.


EDIT - I think this could also be followed on the savings, insurance and pensions boards where IFA's often post.

MortgageMamma

Thanks for this Martin, its needed some clarification for a while.

Personally, I think to keep things even and keep the forum nice the following would be helpful

All brokers signatures in the same colour, size and font

The signature I would like to see is as follows

I am a whole of Market Mortgage Broker. My comments are for discussion purposes only and should not be deemed as a substitute for professional advice, and do not reflect the views of my company, or MSE.com.

What I DON'T think should be happening is brokers linking their own company websites to the site, if a client wants to know more about a broker and PM's them I think there should be a standardised responce, something like:

I aknowledge receipt of your PM, however, it is against the site rules to interact on a professional level with forum users via personal messages. Please direct your enquiry through an alternative method or go to www.fsa.gov.uk/register to locate a qualifed individual.

Thanks again

Lisa

MSE_Martin

OK this is where Im at now

Andrew I must agree your sig is too big. One of the keys to sigs is short and sweet. Though I do like your regulatory announcemnet

Andy

I am a mortgage broker at INSERT MORTGAGE BROKER (NOT HYPERLINKED). All of my posts are my own personal opinion, and should not be interpreted as either finacial advice, or an official company stance. For Further Information Including Regulatory Status Click My Name And View My Profile.

MM while i see your 'whole of market' issue - that involves it being checked by someone.

Martin

herbiesjp

When I first joined I was told to copy the signature of Payless I believe by one of the mods.

Payless has since changed his signature, but I kept the same, mainly as it seemed to do the trick i.e. tell people who I was.

I agree that it should state that the posts on the board as exactly that - posts. They are not advice and should not be viewed as such.

I like the above wording and agree that the signature should not really be excessive in wording.

Might quoting ones FSA number be worthwhile?

jamminjamaica

i think the advice given by these mortgage brokers is invaluable. so just wanted to say thanks..

herbiesjp

jamminjamaica wrote:

i think the advice given by these mortgage brokers is invaluable. so just wanted to say thanks..

Just glad i can help - and I know the other brokers are exactly the same:T

EdInvestor

I am a mortgage broker at INSERT MORTGAGE BROKER (NOT HYPERLINKED). All of my posts are my own personal opinion, and should not be interpreted as either finacial advice, or an official company stance.

IMHO this is an excellent idea.:) I have had PMs from MSE posters asking for my opinion about other posters (without any clear identification) who have tried to flog them investment plans, always of the dubious variety.

I think it would be very helpful if advisors are clearly identified with their employer/ organisation, as it would act as a constraint on any questionable types of the scammer/boiler room variety.

Dubious advice appearing on the boards is not really a problem, as people can correct it: the difficulty IMHO is policing abuse via the PM system.