Mortgage intermediary fined for income inflation

The FSA says one of the mortgage intermediary’s advisers had inflated customers’ incomes on mortgage applications and it did not act quickly and appropriately to deal with the matter. In addition, there were weaknesses in HCML’s sales processes, including retention of customers’ income verification documents to show affordability, which the FSA says put customers at risk of receiving unsuitable advice. HCML also failed to disclose to customers the true cost of the single premium payment protection insurance (PPI) policies it recommended and it failed to ensure staff followed its complai...