Mortgage brokers praise free TCF website as FSA confirms TCF
will be tested as part of firms’ usual supervision from January 2009

A recent survey of over 300 users of TCF Info, the website dedicated to supporting intermediaries in treating customers fairly, has confirmed www.tcfinfo.co.uk as an essential destination for any small or medium sized mortgage broker needing help with implementing TCF. With the December 2008 deadline for embedding TCF into everyday practices just weeks away - and the FSA’s recent announcement that delivery of TCF will be tested as part of firms’ usual supervision from January 2009 -the TCF Info website will offer a welcome lifeline for many small brokers. The FSA has made it clear that where it finds TCT failings it will use its full range of regulatory powers to take tough action.

TCF Info offers a broad range of plain English guides, checklists and case studies that can be downloaded free of charge and adapted or rebranded to suit a firm’s specific business needs, or for training purposes. It also offers tips on how to prepare for an FSA small firms’ assessment. The site receives around 20,000 visits a month – of which a quarter are repeat visits.

Broker recommendations reflect site’s resource value

The user survey, carried out in August and September 2008, firmly underlines TCF Info’s value as a resource for brokers. Almost 75 per cent of respondents were regular visitors and nearly a quarter had been recommended to the site by a colleague. Almost all found the site “very useful” (70 per cent) or “quite useful” (28 per cent). Some 90 per cent said they felt that the content met all of their needs and 98 per cent found the site easy or quite easy to navigate.

To gain further user insight, TCF Info also carried out an in-depth interview with a typical site user. Mortgage G-Force is a firm of independent mortgage and financial consultants which sells a range of mortgages on an advised basis. Compliance Manager, Alison Hampson, first found www.tcfinfo.co.uk through Google when looking for information to help her check that the firm had everything in place to meet the 31 March deadline for implementation of TCF MI. She says, “I was delighted to find the TCF Info website. Although I was confident about our TCF preparation, TCF Info offered all the information I needed in one place to perform a final gap analysis cross check. The site is easy to navigate and the checklists ideal. I initially searched the whole site over a two-week period. I viewed most of the links and extracted what was relevant. Areas I found particularly useful were the Tips and Tools and Case Studies.”

As well as using TCF Info for gap analysis purposes, Mortgage G-Force used it to 'cherry pick' and review information on certain aspects of TCF about which they were unsure. They now intend using the Case Studies to support training. The firm has also downloaded and own-branded key ‘value added’ documents, such as the TCF Customer Statement which their advisers include along with the disclosure documents and Fact Find in their compliant sales packs taken to the first client meeting.

FSA singles out good practice based on TCF Info download

“When we met with the FSA in June 2008 as part of the TCF review in Manchester they were extremely impressed with the TCF Customer Statement document and singled it out as part of our TCF assessment as extremely good practice,” said Hampson. All praise goes to www.tcfinfo.co.uk for providing free compliant templates!”

Hampson points out that for a small company or sole trader with little compliance knowledge the TCF Info website offers an invaluable starting point for creating full and compliant TCF procedures. “The fact that it is free is a real bonus for them,” she adds. She says as well as the Self Audit checklist and the main tips and tools checklists, the area on Preparing for a TCF assessment is especially valuable for small firms who’ve not yet been contacted by the FSA.

Frank Eve, Chairman of the TCF Lender Forum, which developed the free TCF Info website said, “Far from marking the end of TCF initiative, the December 2008 deadline, marks the beginning of making TCF ‘business as usual’ for all mortgage intermediaries. Never has it been more important for firms to understand and continue to implement TCF in their ongoing business practices. Those who fail to measure up will risk enforcement action from the FSA. For this reason we expect the free support provided by www.tcfinfo.co.uk. to continue to play a vital role in helping smaller firms maintain their TCF strategies.”

TCF Info is supported by all of the major mortgage lenders as well as a broad range of specialist lenders. Their financial backing enables the site to provide free of charge help and information on all aspects of TCF.

Find out more at www.tcfinfo.co.uk.