How much in fees to set up Equity Release Scheme

Keep_pedalling

What company are pushing this?

BeresfordN8

Is it OK to name names, link to websites, etc? I don't see why not but... you never know.

Keep_pedalling

BeresfordN8 wrote: »

Is it OK to name names, link to websites, etc? I don't see why not but... you never know.

That is not a problem, although as a newbie you might not be able to post links yet.

BeresfordN8

The company is called Thornton & Baines.

Keep_pedalling

Well they do appear to be IFAs, but they don't appear on VouchedFor and I can't find any client reviews anywhere else.

I did find a negative review from a former employee who claims much of the work was cold calling people, which maybe how your parents got involved with them unless they happen to live in central London.

I would post a thread about this company in the savings and investment forum where one of the resident IFAs may be ably to give you a better view of this firm.

BeresfordN8

Will do this later. Thank you very much.

dunstonh

Well they do appear to be IFAs, but they don't appear on VouchedFor and I can't find any client reviews anywhere else.

Vouchedfor is not a reliable source for IFAs.

Recent research into adviser directories has found most adviser firms do not find them of value and either do not subscribe to any (40% dont). Only 37% used vouchedfor. And of those using vouchedfor, 40% of advisers do not plan to renew their subscription. It is a similar situation with the main directory unbiased.

Vouchedfor is a commercial site that requires IFAs to pay it to be listed. Most decent IFA firms of long standing are mature firms with no need to advertise. So, they see little reason to pay a site that has a reputation for review manipulation and low success rates in generating new business. These sites have been increasing their fees in recent years.

For low charging firms, you can actually lose money as an adviser by using Vouchedfor. For example, Vouched for will charge the adviser firm 2% of the first £100,000 of new funds invested in investments and pensions. In our case, our advice fee is nearly always less than 2% of the amount invested. So, we would either lose money on those cases or we would have to increase our charges. So, using a firm on vouchedon will likely mean you are paying over the odds compared to using a firm that is not using it.

agrinnall

dunstonh wrote: »

Vouchedfor is not a reliable source for IFAs.

...

So if the good firms are no longer willing to appear in the directories (the only one I've been aware of is unbiased) then how are people without a knowledge of the market supposed to find an IFA that they can rely on?

dunstonh

agrinnall wrote: »

So if the good firms are no longer willing to appear in the directories (the only one I've been aware of is unbiased) then how are people without a knowledge of the market supposed to find an IFA that they can rely on?

unbiased still shows non-paying advisers. You just have to select the option to include non-paying when you do the search. It defaults to not including them.

There is also a search engine from the Personal Finance Society (professional body) which includes the qualifications of the adviser and filters for business areas including equity release. That is a non-commercial search engine. You just need to be registered with that professional body (which is the largest of them). As they handle the qualifications/examinations, you know the information is accurate.

Money advice service has a very basic search engine. Not as good the PFS one above.