Many brokers may not have acted in their clients best interests, ignoring their duty of care in return for an undisclosed commission.
What does a broker do?
Brokers are professionals who act on behalf of clients. They arrange credit facilities and any associated financial products. Customers pay the broker a fee which is pre-agreed; this fee could be in the thousands.
What duties do brokers owe to their customers?
Brokers should:
- Act loyally for a borrower.
- Not enter into a conflict of interest
- Not make a secret profit from their clients
- Disclose any profit made to their clients
- Provide services of a reasonable standard
- Act in accordance with the standard reasonably expected of an independent Financial Adviser.
- Were brokers involved in the mis-selling scandal?
When customers arranged loans with lenders such as GE Money Home Lending, Blackhorse Limited and others, most customers used a broker to help arrange the credit.
Many customers did not realise that the lender paid an undisclosed amount to the broker by way of commission. This was in addition to the broker fee clients had already agreed.
When paying a broker fee, clients expect the broker to act solely in their best interest. They must be completely loyal to the customer.
By accepting additional commission, that clients were unaware of and did not consent to; the broker was not acting solely in the customer’s best interests and had a divided loyalty.
As a result, the relationship between the lender and the customer is unfair.
Did my broker receive undisclosed commission?
If you used a broker and paid a broker fee it is likely the broker received additional undisclosed commission, it was common practice. You may be eligible to claim a refund of the commission.
Get in touch with our team of financial mis-selling experts. We will take some details of any lenders you had credit with. Then we can start investigating on your behalf.
Is there a deadline or time limit?
In order to pursue a claim the loan, credit card, credit hire agreement or other type of credit must either still be active. This includes loans you are still paying for or have finished paying for within the last six years.
If you have finished paying for the credit and you are not sure when, the earlier you contact us, the sooner we can investigate.