Proposed Mortgage Broker Code of Conduct

AndrewSmith

whiteflag wrote:

Sorry mate, shouldnt have quoted you. My frustration is with the whole thread. No offence meant:o

None taken, you sir are a gent. :beer:

kenshaz

Andrew Smith has demonstrated his belief in the new code and that is fine for me ,how can we make progress if we continue to refer to personality .

payless

Andrew , Herbie ( and others) thanks for your kind words- your input has also been great on the forums ( over last year a lot greater than mine) only reason my feelings might come across stronger, is time I've been posting longer, and the whole community was closer
( I actually think the expansion of MSE Arms, freebies, tesco R+R , deflect from the financial sections- which used to be the fore )

Now can we get on with agreeing the "rules"

Point raised eslewhere - should IFAs / brokers be able to recommend others around the country / ask for PMs to do so ( even if poster requests) - I think not.

AndrewSmith

I personally think that, in addition to my earlier posted reasons, recommendations for specific firms should only come from those who have had dealings as a consumer with that particular firm.

The point being just because we may know the firm in question does not mean that we have any knowledge of how they deal with customers.

I also think that, given the FSA regularly trawls such sites as these, it is a very grey area from a regulatory point of view for a regulated individual to be recommending another firm.

Best left alone I think.

UK007BullDog

I believe that every professional who visits this site regularily should state their respective profession in a sig. Not just us mortgage brokers but also builders accountants etc. So that those reading the posts and advice have something to go by that the person knows what they are talking about.

As for the sig the compliance managers have said that we need to have one no matter where we post. So even if Martin were to say no sigs required I would still have to put one.

toonfish

payless wrote:

Point raised eslewhere - should IFAs / brokers be able to recommend others around the country / ask for PMs to do so ( even if poster requests) - I think not.

I agree, that doesn't seem right. If the client specifically asks though what should be the response? If you genuinely do know someone reliable in their area perhaps it's fairer to say so than leave them at the mercy of yellow pages?

kenshaz

Martin has responded to the above question.
see this link to the thread Manchester/Trafford IFA any recomendations?

payless

so it flows on here - pasted

My view is it is best if brokers don't answer about recommending other brokers it complicates things - as we don't know about reciprocal arrangements. So to keep it transparent it is best if that is left.

Actually in this case I think the best answer is to refer the poster to the how to get advice article, so they can talk to some local brokers and find the one that best suits. I will add it to the code of conduct.

Martin

MSE_Martin

DRAFT 2 Mortgage Broker Code of Conduct

Where I have made any substantive change, I’ve done it in italics, again this isn’t the final version, so feedback still welcome; also any grammar or text changes now welcome.

• Mortgage Brokers are very welcome on this board and are thanked for the time and effort they put in to help users. This site’s view is it’s always better to use a good mortgage broker to get a mortgage than go direct to a bank or building society (see Mortgage Broker article) (LINK TO BE ADDED)
  
• Mortgage Broker’s Signatures. If mortgage brokers want to add a signature about being a broker to their post it should be
  
  “I am a mortgage broker, however any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes and should not be seen as financial advice. Though I should note that this site does not check my mortgage broker status, so you need to take my word for it.”
  
  There should be no note about the company you work for or any hyperlinks or any other text. Mortgage brokers who choose not to use the signature should not indicate they are brokers in any other way within their posts.
  
  If another relevant mortgage professional e.g. a mortgage IFA is posting then it is permissible to change the word broker to the relevant term in the signature.

• Mortgage Broker’s Profiles. Mortgage Brokers may have the name of their business and a single link to their website in their profiles. However even within the profile it should not be encouraging users to contact them (i.e. no ‘contact me if you’ve a problem’ or even ‘happy to help).

• Mortgage Brokers should not tout for business on the boards or in PMs. They should be no posts or unsolicited PMs offering mortgage broker services. Nor should brokers ever say ‘see my profile for who I work for’ or any such guise. However if a user requests their service either via PM or post then I have no objection to that and the business generated. Yet if someone requests the service by a post on the board, the broker should simply post “I will PM you” rather than posting details there.
  
  Any mortgage broker found to be flouting this ‘no touting’ rule will potentially lose their rights to post on the forum (PPR).
  
  
• Mortgage Brokers should not recommend other brokers. To prevent accusations of reciprocal help or deals, mortgage brokers should not be recommending specific other brokers. If a poster is asking for recommendations, it is best left to non-brokers or they should be referred to the MSE article.
• Brokers shouldn’t reply ‘seek advice’ as a standalone answer. To prevent accusations of touting. Mortgage brokers should not simply reply to questions with what essentially boils down to a short answer then a plug for ‘you need to seek advice’. It’s important that brokers aren’t attempting to genuinely help the user with a specific answer, can’t answer the question directly then it’s best not to answer. There are enough links to where to get info and advice in the forum and the site to enable people to seek advice if they need to.

• Non-brokers have valid opinions too. Brokers should be mindful that non-brokers can have valid opinions on mortgages too, and this forum isn’t a ‘broker-only zone’. I would direct brokers to read this post which details the sites position on advice sadly this site cannot and will not adjudicate on ‘what is good advice’

• The site will err on the side of code following brokers. As brokers obeying the code are under much more stringent rules than normal posters. If brokers are following rules 1 to 6 code of conduct; this site will (resources permitting) be supportive. If posters are trying to stop the flow of information and disrupt it (which includes simply linking to site articles without reason/reasoning) as opposed to simply disagreeing on info or advice the site abuse team will err on the side of brokers.

Thoughts

Martin


PS while it will not be in the code, in the intial stages if people try and disrupt this, it won't be looked favourably upon. The aim here is to help people save Money on mortgage and to make this board a pleasant place to be. For people who go against that or rehash old ground unnecessarily there won't be much tolerance and I will be forced to PPR.

payless

Suggest wise if rules clarify signature textsize and spacing ( and possibly colour)
( edit testing sig - )