No love lost in equity release
Quite right. This is the client’s money and it is wrong to make clients feel that they are under some kind of obligation to explain their decision to their children.
It should make no difference where the money is being released from – be it an investment, house equity, sale of a painting etc. It is the client’s prerogative to use the proceeds without having to justify this to offspring or future beneficiaries.
It is on the ER checklist to avoid howls of protest later on from children who never dreamt that mummy would have spent all the house equity enjoying herself or as in most cases, maintaining her living standards and dignity.
Rob Gill
Halifax voted best for broker service
I like Halifax’s approach of taking the middle ground rate wise so they are never swamped with business. Also by not giving the money away they seem to be able to be more flexible with their underwriting.
After all its not always just about the rate! Just hope they don’t get a change of top brass who see things differently. Halifax just need to keep a lid on their dual pricing, which has always been their Achilles heel and they can have the lions share of my business.
No surprise that Leeds Building Society are not in the top 10 for their service to brokers!
Mark Sutton
Money Advice Service will be gone by 2015 – AMI
There is no doubt the general public need financial education but a) it needs to start at school and b) MAS is a totally ineffective way to do it.
Lisa
Brokers say high fees are scaring off clients
High arrangement fees should not really be a problem as for most clients there will be lower fee products available, albeit at a higher rate of interest.
Surely it is our role as advisers to explore the best alternative for our clients. For clients with a relatively small mortgage, an arrangement fee of £1,500 would be disproportionately large and a slightly higher rate of interest with a low or no arrangement fee would make more sense. It is not rocket science or am I missing something?
A K Narey
Thank you for your comments this week.
