FAQs

The Council’s full complaint process can be found on our website here (insert weblink)

The Equity Release Council is a voluntary trade body to which advisers, providers, solicitors and other professionals in this market can belong. We are not the regulator (this is the Financial Conduct Authority), nor do we have any enforcement powers over our members – for example, we cannot award redress or stipulate lending criteria. We can only investigate complaints against our members where they have failed to adhere to our Standards – but only once the regulated complaint process has been completed.

This process starts with a complaint to the adviser firm. This can be written or verbal, but it does usually help if you can put in writing to them at outset the concerns you have, the situation you now find yourselves in and the timelines involved. They then have very strict process to follow, which they will detail for you on receipt of your complaint. They should be able to provide you with their decision (to uphold or reject your complaint) within 8 weeks. If they cannot provide a final response within this period, or if you are unhappy with the response they have provided,  you will then have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), who will then conduct their own investigation and provide you with their findings in due course – this process has no formal timescales, and the Ombudsman’s decision is binding. You will not incur fees from either the adviser firm or FOS for conducting their investigations.

More information about the Financial Ombudsman Service is available here www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

If you wish to make a complaint, then, you should first contact the adviser/ firm to express your concerns and ask them to open the complaint process. You may also wish to complain to the provider, although they may also refer you to the adviser firm in the first instance. If you do not know who the adviser was originally, the provider will be able to tell you. You can then check the Financial Services Register Home (fca.org.uk), where you will find current contact details and information about where to direct your complaint.

Lifetime Mortgages were regulated in 2004 and Home Reversions in 2007. If you wish to complain about products taken out or advice given before these dates your complaint may be rejected. Please also note that until 2012 only providers could be members of the Council and we would therefore be unable to look into a complaint against an adviser, solicitor, or firm other than a provider for any transactions conducted before this time.