MortgageStream is warning mortgage firms that ‘judgement day’ for implementing Treating Customers Fairly is now less than ten weeks away and the consequences for failure to comply are devastating.
The Financial Services Authority has stated that firms “must be able to demonstrate by the end of December 2008 through its management behaviours that it consistently treats its customers fairly.”
As an interim step, by March this year, firms were required to have “the necessary management information in place” although only 22% of mortgage brokers met this deadline.
Paul Holden, sales director at MortgageStream is keen to stress to all mortgage brokers that the December deadline is one that advisors should take very seriously.
He says: “There can be no doubt that the FSA are committed to TCF and have already evidenced their willingness to dish out severe financial ramifications for firms who fail to make the grade.
"At the risk of sounding like a broken record, this is an issue that must be taken seriously as the scale of fines being imposed could easily destroy a brokers’ business."
Research from MortgageStream also reveals that brokers are largely unaware that they already hold the majority of data and detail they need to satisfy many of the requirements and that most data management systems already comply with TCF if used properly.