Can I sue MSE for the bad financial advice of its contributors?

Dithering_Dad

Not that I would because I think everyone should take responsiblity for their own decisions, even if that decision was based on wrongful advice. After all they could have gotten a second opinion.

However, not everyone thinks this way and as MSE actively promotes compensation culture, would it not be ironic if this site itself was sued for bad advice from its contributors?

I've found that the IFA contributors have always been obtuse (i.e. very general) with their advice - something I found very annoying when I first found this site. "Why can't they just tell me what to do with my pension!" I thought. Now I'm more experienced financially, I see what a benefit that generalised "Do your own research" was and the reason why the IFA, quite rightly, would not give me direct advice.

Unfortunately, some (NON IFA) contributors cross the barrier from the "Well, this is what I would do in your position" or "I had this same issue and did this" and provide direct advice such as "You won't end up with much from the stakeholder, save that money in a cash ISA where you can access it if necessary for emergencies." or state that certain funds will give them guaranteed return higher than their mortgage rate so their money should go there instead.

The second irony is that if I came on here and posted a remark that "I went to see an IFA and after 20 second's consideration, he gave me advise to follow that would affect me for the rest of my life. The advice was incorrect and I am now looking at a huge loss". The same people would be clamouring for me to seek compensation.

Some of the people on MSE who provide this direct advice have over 10k posts, leading newbies into the belief that they are part of the MSE organisation. Surely this could be grounds for a successful claim if their advice is wrong and wrecks their finances?

What does everyone else think?

lilac_lady

Is this post a wind up? If it's genuine I think you've a lot in common with Victor Meldrew.

Dithering_Dad

nope, the start of a debate hopefully. Why would it be a wind up? I'm just starting a debate to fill a rainy Sunday afternoon. What's in the content of the question that will wind people up?

Well, unless you're one of the "Direct Advisers" I've mentioned, and in that case, maybe you need to be wound up in order to consider the impact your advice may have on others?

I've seen some shocking advice given where hardly any financial information was given by the OP and absolutely no background information.

This isn't like most financial websites that have forums. Usually by the time you've joined one of those sites you have a modicum of interest and experience in financial affairs - certainly you'd hardly join and then contribute if you hadn't.

However, MSE is a 'people's champion' website and so attracts people who are in a precarious financial position and who have very little financial savvy. So if these people are told "cash in that crappy endowment, they're useless" then they probably will, regardless of whether this is the right thing to do and based on advice that has very little merit, zero research and is probably based on the 'financial baggage' of the person advising.

What's so "Victor Meldrew" about asking whether people should be giving advice on complex issues with no experience & no qualifications? Why are you trying to stifle debate on this?

Riq

Anyone that takes financial/legal advice from an annonymous person on the interenet, especially a public access forum deserves everything they get for being stupid.

Aegis

I'm fairly sure you can't sue a forum owner for bad advice you followed on their forum that was posted by someone else entirely. If they posted and endorsed it, it would be another matter entirely.

What you can do is complain to the management about bad advice and ask for it to be removed, or you can correct it yourself in person.

Essentially a forum is a means for people to publish their ideas to the internet, and it's the individuals posting who are ultimately responsible for their posts. It's beyond reasonable expectation that Martin Lewis or his volunteer team could investigate every post on here for factual accuracy and good advice, so I very much doubt that they could be held responsible.

However, if you did start a legal case, they could possibly be required to provide your lawyer with the contact details and any other information that the user supplied
in order to allow the case to go ahead.

I'm far from an expert on these matters, but I have been a member of staff on a forum and this is my understanding of the relevant laws.


For the record, I've been threatened with legal action on numerous occasions for not deleting posts that people considered to be non-factual, and so far have received no summons papers at all. As such, I'd say I'm doing reasonably well with my interpretations!

southernscouser

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

as MSE actively promotes compensation culture

Does it? :undecided

jo_b_2

On the top of every page in the chat forum there is a warning stating:

Remember, this is an open forum! Anyone can post so always exercise caution when acting on info.

The onus is on the readers to check out any advice dependent on their own circumstances.

Aegis

southernscouser wrote: »

Does it? :undecided

I'd personally call it more of an indemnity culture rather than a compensation culture.

southernscouser

Riq wrote: »

Anyone that takes financial/legal advice from an annonymous person on the interenet, especially a public access forum deserves everything they get for being stupid.

So would advising someone to go speak to the CCCS or advising them to pay off their highest APR debt first, mean that the recipient of the advice would be stupid for acting on this advice?

bristolleedsfan

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

Not that I would because I think everyone should take responsiblity for their own decisions, even if that decision was based on wrongful advice. After all they could have gotten a second opinion.

However, not everyone thinks this way and as MSE actively promotes compensation culture, would it not be ironic if this site itself was sued for bad advice from its contributors?

I've found that the IFA contributors have always been obtuse with their advice - something I found very annoying when I first found this site. "Why can't they just tell me what to do with my pension!" I thought. Now I'm more experienced financially, I see what a benefit that generalised "Do your own research" was.

Unfortunately, some contributors cross the barrier from the "Well, this is what I would do in your position" or "I had this same issue and did this" and provide direct advice such as "You won't end up with much from the stakeholder, save that money in a cash ISA where you can access it if necessary for emergencies." or state that certain funds will give them guaranteed return higher than their mortgage rate so their money should go there instead.

The second irony is that if I came on here and posted a remark that "I went to see an IFA and after 20 second's consideration, he gave me advise to follow that would affect me for the rest of my life. The advice was incorrect and I am now looking at a huge loss". The same people would be clamouring for me to seek compensation.

Some of the people on MSE who provide this direct advice have over 10k posts, leading newbies into the belief that they are part of the MSE organisation. Surely this could be grounds for a successful claim if their advice is wrong and wrecks their finances?

What does everyone else think?

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=304878

Lorne

Riq wrote: »

Anyone that takes financial/legal advice from an annonymous person on the interenet, especially a public access forum deserves everything they get for being stupid.

I agree with Riq, when you post on here you are asking for some pointers in the right direction, it is the poster's responsibility to check out the accuracy of the post and whether it would be appropriate in their circumstances. I don't think that introducing a debate on a 'sue culture' is helpful.