In a previous post I talked about how we felt let down by a mortgage advisor we used at a very well known estate agents. So much so that we put a complaint in with the Financial Services Ombudsman (FSO). I have yet to write what the outcome of this was. So here goes...
The response letter arrived the day we picked up the keys to the house, which was awful timing (also Friday 13th). We opened it before we left and quickly skimmed over it. The news was not good. The response was that they were siding with the estate agent. According to them 'as with any large purchase we would expect the consumer to do their own research'. I quite agree and we did do our own research, but it was a case of finding what we wanted to find and not feeling the need to research further than that. We had trust in the mortgage advisor that she would advise us on the best purchase for our needs. She had asked us about why we wanted to buy our own place and what we were looking for. To a lay person this would give the impression she was advising us on more than just the mortgage.
The news did put a dampener on our moving day, but I can honestly say I don't regret pulling out of purchasing the flat. Even though we lost over £1000 it was worth it to not end up in a property that within a few months we would have hated. As the saying goes 'you live and learn' and my goodness we learnt a lot. Over friendly mortgage advisors aren't always what they seem. If they are getting a hefty commission for signing you up they won't have your best interests at heart. I had so much more faith in our next advisor who was not charging us for his services. We have gone on to recommend him to 7 or 8 people. On the other hand we will forever slate the well known estate agents and tell others to avoid them at all costs. We have since found out from someone who was selling a house with them that they have some very small print that says they will take a percentage of the original listing price rather than the actual selling price. So they could put your house on the market for £220,000, but it sells for £200,000, they will get commission on £220,000. Says it all really!
We could have contested the FSO's decision, but with moving we forgot and missed the deadline. I don't really think it would have done any good anyway. At least now we are happy in our new home where we don't pay an extortionate service charge, we have a garden and stairs and we are allowed pets.
TTFN
