FSA Advice About Shopping A Rogue FA Abroad

[Urban Sports]

Evening,

I think this is right place to post this.

A bit of advice, a family member has had a bit of strife with a financial advisor who is based in the UK but was / is organising mortgages in Spain.

Anyway he basically lied about income and employment status to obtain a mortgage which has only just come to light 2 years down the road!

Turns out said financial advisor is making a habit of it and seems to be doing the same left right and centre and generally making people miserable.

What I'm asking is does the FSA have any power to prosecute somebody committing financial offences abroad who are UK based arranging mortgages for a UK citizen?

If not is there a way of reporting him in Spain?

Thanks

[ukshooter]

Dont know what the rules are regarding mortgages and Spain but there are many 'ifa's misleading/giving the wrong advice in Spain.

I'm based in the UK and on the FSA register as is anyone that is authorised in the UK so you could try looking the adviser up here: http://www.fsa.gov.uk/Pages/Register/search/index....

To see if they are UK regulated. Dont know if there is any mileage in complaining or not.

I am also regulated by the Direccion General de Seguros y Fondos de Pensiones (DGSFP)and registered in the Spanish Administrative Registry of insurance intermediaries although they dont cover mortgages but there must be something similar in Spain that does

[Mojooo]

He could possibly be done for fraud in the UK if he is doing any dealings with UK based banks before dealing with spanish banks...

is he dealing directly with spanish banks or are the mortgages going via uk banks?

[scotal]

As the loan is secured on an overseas property, it is not covered by either the FSA or the UK Consumer Credit Act.
The FSA might be interested if the guy is conducting UK mortgage business as well, but they won't have a great deal of scope for action if his UK stuff is clean.

ETA. I'd be very careful about how your relative complains. At some stage paperwork must have been signed, which to some regulators would read that he knew that dodgy figures were being entered.
If the Advisor is any good at what he's doing, the complaint will not only not be upheld, but it will all appear to have been your relatives fault.

Edited by scotal on Wednesday 15th June 11:40

[DonkeyApple]

Urban Sports said:

Evening,

I think this is right place to post this.

A bit of advice, a family member has had a bit of strife with a financial advisor who is based in the UK but was / is organising mortgages in Spain.

Anyway he basically lied about income and employment status to obtain a mortgage which has only just come to light 2 years down the road!

Turns out said financial advisor is making a habit of it and seems to be doing the same left right and centre and generally making people miserable.

What I'm asking is does the FSA have any power to prosecute somebody committing financial offences abroad who are UK based arranging mortgages for a UK citizen?

If not is there a way of reporting him in Spain?

Thanks

Do you know where he is regulated?

If you know his name then go to the FSA Register and check out his details, then use these to approach the Ombudsman.

But the big question here is who lied about financial details? And if you are saying that he put false data on clients' application forms then if those clients have signed the documents then you won't get anywhere or waste the ombudsman's time unless you have clear written proof that you gave different figures to the advisor.

Sadly, Spain is a real problem for English IFAs as most are not actually regulated or qualified but acting as essentially, illegal agents, so victims have no recourse.

[pacoryan]

All the advice on here about regulators makes sense but forgive me for being nosey - fraudulent mortgage applications tend to upset the lender, how has it made people's lives miserable?

Joint applications or something?

Confused.

[scotal]

DonkeyApple said:

Do you know where he is regulated?

If you know his name then go to the FSA Register and check out his details, then use these to approach the Ombudsman.

The ombudsman won't care, its a Spanish Mortgage so its not regulated by the FSA. The ombudsman may well be polite, but they can't act on it.

[DonkeyApple]

scotal said:

DonkeyApple said:

Do you know where he is regulated?

If you know his name then go to the FSA Register and check out his details, then use these to approach the Ombudsman.

The ombudsman won't care, its a Spanish Mortgage so its not regulated by the FSA. The ombudsman may well be polite, but they can't act on it.

Maybe I worded it oddly, but I was implying that if he were on the Register then the Ombardsman is where you go next. Quite a few of the ex pats flogging st in Spain are tied agenets to UK firms so on the Register. It's worth checking.

Otherwise, as you allude to, he is fked.