The campaign spearheaded by Ian Broadbent, managing director of Lincolnshire-based advisory firm Blue Sky Mortgages, has already gained support from a group of MPs, led by Nic Dakin, Labour MP for Scunthorpe, and Jonathan Evans, Conservative MP for Cardiff North, who agreed to write to the Treasury to call for tighter regulation.
In a letter to advisers Cherry called on its members to write to the Association of Professional Financial Advisers and the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries to provide them with evidence of bad practice by both claims management companies and the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Chris Hannant, director general of Apfa, and Robert Sinclair, chief executive of Ami, have said they were “keen” to collect evidence of bad practice and unreasonable behaviour.
The campaign will also send copies of evidence to the ministry of justice, which currently regulates claims management companies.
Donna Hopton, founder of the Cherry, said: “We are always keen to represent our members’ views on important issues. As the payment protection insurance scandal reaches its conclusion, these practically unregulated claims management companies are turning towards other financial products including investments and mortgages.
“In doing so they are abusing ‘subject access requests’ and attempting to create their next big payday, hence everything possible must be done to stop them.”
Background
Earlier this year Alan Lakey, partner of Hertfordshire-based Highclere Financial Services, and Derek Bradley, founder of Panacea Adviser, lodged a petition to the ministry of justice to protest the way claims management companies were targeting people.
In October Mr Lakey was awarded £340 at a small claims court after he fought successfully against a payment protection insurance mis-selling claim by a claims management firm.
