FRENCH MORTGAGES AND CONSUMER PROTECTION IN THE UK
More often than not, the purchase of a French holiday home will represent the second largest single financial transaction in anyone’s lifetime. Why is it then that insuring oneself against financial loss due to misleading advice or malpractice is not generally high up in the list of priorities when deciding on which channel to use for financing the project?Is it simply that the carefree holiday spirit takes over once a property has been found and the financial concerns that would normally be high up on the agenda back in the cold grey light of a UK wintry day are brushed aside?
Is it more a matter that because French mortgages are not regulated back here in the UK and any recourse though the French courts is something so unfamiliar that you have taken the fatalistic view that for practical purposes you have no protection anyway?
If so, the following should come as a pleasant surprise to you:
Consumer protection is available in the UK even when arranging a French mortgage!
All you have to do is use the services of a mortgage intermediary based in the UK, licensed under the UK Consumer Credit Acts.This then gives you access to following (please click on title for further details):
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS)
In the event of the borrower suffering financial loss as a result of unsuitable or insufficiently researched mortgage advice, the FOS may award compensation against and to be paid by the Licensed intermediary.If the intermediary is also authorised by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
Then further consumer protection is provided through the following additional safety nets: