The first comment was to the story: FCA announces £10m fee for networks to tackle AR oversight failures
Paul Smulovitch said: “For the average appointed representative who represents no risk and follows rules diligently, this is just more cost and likely to be even more red tape when time is already precious.”
Facing ‘keyboard warriors’
The second comment came from Andy Wilson, under the article: Banter and bullying or community and kindness: five brokers open up about life on social media
Wilson said: “I post quite heavily on LinkedIn, and occasionally on my own Facebook business page, but Twitter has for me fallen a bit by the wayside.
“However, there are a lot of companies advertising for equity release on Facebook, and many of them are lead generation companies for equity release products.”
He added: “Almost inevitably, there will be anything up to 100 or more posts which are knee-jerk reactions from people who clearly do not understand the modern products, with flexible features and benefits.
“’Don’t do it’ and ‘it’s a con’ they cry. So, I challenge them. ‘Why do you feel like that?’ or ‘what makes you say that?’.”
Wilson said: “Those who bother to reply, and who aren’t simply keyboard warriors posting for a jolly, do state their arguments about it, but they are nearly always related to old non-regulated products with high exit charges, and bear no relation to the lifetime mortgages of today.
“I try to educate and explain, but it is an uphill struggle with some. Some are violently opposed.”
He added: “One poster was so incensed by the fact that I, as an adviser, had dared to challenge the seemingly popular view that all those involved with equity release should be hung, drawn and quartered, and even went so far as to post personal attacks on me, including a statement that he grouped me in with child molesters and paedophiles.
“My wife was horrified, but I simply reported the posts to Facebook and within 20 minutes they had deleted his posts and issued a warning.”
Wilson concluded: “Social media can be an offensive place. You just need to keep everything very polite and professional, and eventually some will realise you may actually be worth talking to after all.”