IFA miss advise

QUATTRO

My wife and I took a mortgage out with (for now) a nameless IFA in west sussex who stated that on our joing salary we would NEVER be entertained by a High Street/Household lender. We were guided to a Self Cert mortgage with a unknown, to me anyway, lender.

It transpires today 4 months later that our orginal lender C&G looking at them through Martins website that they wouldve lent us the 183,000

For me to investigate the possibilities of mis-selling this self cert mortgage to us (Oh and the advisor insisted that we hmmm fabricate the truth on the application form) how do we go about gaining evidence that A. our orginal lender wouldve lent us the money and B. that we were infact misold by the IFA, C. were locked into this mortgage till Aug 2008 would we be able to use a get out of jail card it miss selling is proved.

Any advisem, particularly from Martin would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

AndyWallace

Did the adviser have a gun to your head? Did you not feel uncomfortable committing fraud?

Andy.

LisaT186

You could perhaps visit your local Cheltenham and Gloucester and ask them to confirm in writing what they would be prepared to lend based on the payslips shown to your adviser at the time. Confirm with them that their lending criteria has not changed in that time. Just be careful that you don't get credit scored on a decision in principle as you don't want to many on your record! Then you may want to approach the IFA with your findings to see what he / she has to say.

As Andy has implied though, you have signed the application form confirming your stated income knowing that it wasn't correct, so this is probably going to be just between you and the IFA. You could ask for a copy of all information that he holds on file, which you are entitled to for a fee, so that you can see what he holds on your income, if you did want to take it further then it could be shown that you told and proved everything to the IFA and then took his advice.

toonfish

there is no set amount C&G will lend, it depends on the credit score and is one of the most annoying things about them.

Which lender and rate did you end up with?

Also, as Andy says you are the ones that signed the declaration as true, so you need to tread very carefully.

dunstonh

People often blame the adviser for things that they were equally liable for. It takes two to tango. You signed the application knowing that it was fraudulent and whilst no-one here would condone the actions of that mortgage adviser, you obviously were happy to break the law to get the mortgage.

What makes you think C&G would lend you the money? As toonfish says, C&G dont work on multiples. They work on affordability and individual judgement. They have no magic "we will accept you" criteria.

Who is the lender they used? It will give us a better idea if its a mainstream lender or not.

Rick62

Yes, please let us know your salaries (basic & overtime/bonus), which lender the broker placed you with, how much you borrowed and where you get the figure of £183,000 (not from Martins website?). Also if you have any loans/credit card balances.

We can then give a better idea why maybe he rcommended self cert and if C&G would have given the money.

payless

C. were locked into this mortgage till Aug 2008 would we be able to use a get out of jail card it miss selling is proved.

Not the lenders fault that you ( possibly) were given bad advice and (appears) to lie on application ... if anything they should be asking you for compo

AndrewSmith

QUATTRO wrote:

It transpires today 4 months later that our orginal lender C&G looking at them through Martins website that they wouldve lent us the 183,000

How do you know this? It is not possible to know this without submitting a full application to the C&G irellivent of what any sort of 'calculator' or online guide may suggest. Remember that such online calculators or guides are a sales tool for the lender to entice you to go with them by offering you more money than their competetors.

For me to investigate the possibilities of mis-selling this self cert mortgage to us (Oh and the advisor insisted that we hmmm fabricate the truth on the application form) how do we go about gaining evidence

If you knew that the information on the application was fabricated you should not have signed it. The fact that you were 'told' to by the adviser does not remove any responsibility or blame from you in the eyes of the law. It is a criminal offence to obtain a mortgage by falsifying information. It is fraud and carries a maximum sentence of 10 years for both client and adviser.

A. our orginal lender wouldve lent us the money

The C&G will not be prepared to state that they would have offered you the money as no full application or underwriting took place.

B. that we were infact misold by the IFA

The problem is that miss-selling or not miss-selling can be a matter of opinion sometimes. For example 2 different doctors may come up with a treatment for an illness, both cure it but one takes longer. Doesnt necessarily mean that either one miss-diagnosed.

I agree that you should never have been told to falsify figures, self cert does not change what you earn it just affords you the luxury of presenting your income in a different way for those who have no proof or accounts etc. Proving mis-sale though may be difficult and could, in this case, end up with you also being implicated in the falsifying of the income figures etc. Tread carefully if you decide to go down this route. I am not trying to defend the practices of the adviser, I think that asking clients to lie about income etc is deplorable, however I am merely pointing out that in reality you are as much in the spotlight as the adviser as you signed the application forms and accepted completion on the mortgage.

C. were locked into this mortgage till Aug 2008 would we be able to use a get out of jail card it miss selling is proved.

No. It is not the fault of the lender that you have this mortgage. Be careful using terms such as 'get out of jail free' as I know of someone (an ex collegue) who is actually serving the remainder of a 10 year prison sentence with the client for falsifying a mortgage application.

I do not wish you to think that I am presenting a 'doom and gloom' opinion, I am merely being realistic as it would be patronising to tell you anything else.

Andy