Are there still mortgage IFAs?

fandangogo

I've recently spoken to a mortgage advisor about my mortgage. During the conversation he mentioned that they can no longer be called "Independent Financial Advisors" because they can't advise on the whole market for mortgages due to not all lenders allowing their products to be sold via third party advisors. Is this correct, does this mean that due to FCA rules there can no longer be such a thing as an IFA, at least, for mortgages?

pramsay13

There are still financial advisors who are independent of mortgage companies and can offer impartial advice on what is best for your situation.

kingstreet

The term is usually 'Whole Of Market Mortgage Broker' but even that has to be qualified with but not for deals you can only get by going direct to a lender.

From our terms of business "We give whole of market advice for first charge mortgages for both business and non-business purposes, but not deals that you can only obtain by going direct to a Lender."

dunstonh

The Term "IFA " does not actually capture mortgages. It only refers to investments and pensions.

An IFA can actually be panel based on insurance and mortgages and still call themselves an IFA.

Is this correct, does this mean that due to FCA rules there can no longer be such a thing as an IFA, at least, for mortgages?

IFA is a term that can refer to the advice firm or the adviser (or both). This next bit might confuse.

I am an IFA. However, like most IFAs, I don't do mortgages.
My firm is an IFA firm.
One of the IFAs in the firm does mortgages and doesnt really do much investments (he really ought to be a mortgage adviser but it makes little difference for the directly authorised firms. It can make a big difference for a network member)
The IFA firm also has several mortgage advisers who are whole of market. They are not allowed to refer to themselves as IFAs as they are not personally IFAs. They are whole of market mortgage advisers. Although they can refer to the firm as being an IFA.

You can identify if a firm is directly authorised by looking at the compliance message about being regulated by the FCA. Directly authorised says xyz is authorised and regulated by the FCA. Network members say the xyz is an appointed rep of abc which is authorised.......

I've recently spoken to a mortgage advisor about my mortgage. During the conversation he mentioned that they can no longer be called "Independent Financial Advisors" because they can't advise on the whole market for mortgages due to not all lenders allowing their products to be sold via third party advisors.

That is not correct. As mentioned above, IFA refers to investment class. Not mortgage or insurance. So, it means that his firm has restricted the advice in some way. It could be a little or it could be a lot. However, the FCA rule is that any restriction in place prevents the firm or adviser referring to themselves as IFAs. They have to be referred to as FAs.

I suspect the firm has gone restricted FA because they are a network member. IFA/FA classification really means little to a directly authorised firm but most network firms cant get the systems and controls in place to cover the permissions that an IFA needs. They effectively have to cater for the lowest common denominator and dont want to take on risks in areas of business that they rarely, if ever, deal in.

Their mortgage classification is either whole of market or panel. So, if they are not referring to themselves as whole of market then they have severely restricted themselves and you may wish to consider moving to a different firm.

So, it doesnt matter if the firm is an IFA or not when it comes to mortgages as it is their mortgage classification that matters. You want whole of market. Equally, their mortgage classification doesnt matter when it comes to investment class. For that you want them to be an IFA and not an FA.

amnblog

In order to be labelled an !!!8216;independent Mortgage Brokers!!!8217; the business does not need to have access to every product on the market. No-one has that.

To be independent you need to be able to offer product in all product areas from an unrestrictive list representative of the whole market. Also you need to offer the client the option to pay by fee only.

From your point of view as a Client you need only seek out Brokers with whole of market access.

dunstonh

And independent mortgage broker is different to an independent financial adviser

You can be an independent mortgage broker without begin an IFA or vice versa.