Self-employed

The FSA says it is not blocking self-employed and contract workers from getting a mortgage by banning self-cert products.

Advisers today branded proposals to effectively ban self-certification mortgages "inappropriate", saying they will leave the self-employed unable to access the mortgage market.

The FSA has banned Walthamstow-based mortgage adviser Ashfaq Ahmed for submitting mortgage applications on his own behalf that were based on false and misleading information about his income.

The FSA has publicly censured Doncaster-based broker Mortgages Remortgages for exposing up to 80 of its customers to the risk of being sold an unsuitable self-certified mortgage.

Claims management firm Cartel Client Review has warned that the misselling of self-certification mortgages is set to spark the next wave of controversy in the financial services arena.

Bank of Scotland (BoS) and BM Solutions have pulled their entire range of new business self-certification products.

The FSA has fined Nottingham mortgage broking firm Gillen Farrelly Independent Advisers £17,500 for failing to ensure it provided suitable advice which exposed over 80 customers to the risk of being sold an unsuitable self-certified mortgage.

Two directors of a mortgage brokerage have been fined a total of £60,000 for failures in self-cert mortgage sales, which could have led to fraud.

The FSA has censured Coventry-based mortgage broker, Mr Mohammed Habib, for failing to ensure his customers received suitable advice.

The FSA has fined a Chepstow mortgage broker £10,500 for failures in the sales process he used for self-certification mortgages.