scolly52

Today's Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/p...on-ruling.html

Pocaloca

Not really, if she was given bad financial advice she was the victim of an incompetence and entitled to compensation. It might encourage these financial advisers to be a bit more honest!

Domino

not by my reading of it......

compensation for following everyone's advice and getting a "professional" to advise them, although that advice was neglient.

hopefully this will stop the UK's financial businesses from hiding behind their fat commissions.
I trust the FSCS will lose on appeal and open the floodgates to many others who have been left in penury after being duped by shysters

steviedeluxe

Disagree. She had the choice of accepting the advice or not. And if you invest in a house in the hope of making money (as opposed to just living there) then you are in effect gambling. This type of thing will end up with the UK government bailing out all those who invest badly...

Also, Spain and its people has suffered from the property boom fed by speculators, as you can see around you today with the subsequent crash.

cricketman

There is no such thing as good or bad financial advice - only people who want to sell you their financial products

The term should be banned, unless provided by an independent person who received no commission from the products they recommend

Domino

and in Banking and Finance where blistering blazes are you going to find one of them ??

some contracts mean the "adviser" gets a payment every year throughout the period of the transaction

bobd22

Seems good if you can get it, take on a massive mortgage in the UK to speculate on a property abroad which no doubt you are hoping will make you lots of money. Wheel comes off and you blame everyone but yourself??
Doesn't mention how long they had been paying tbe mortgage in the UK, what other collateral they had or even timing of buying in Spain.

johnnyone

I understand and agree with those sentiments and speculators should get no sympathy.
However if the couple were risk adverse and the adviser knew this, then advising the couple to speculate on the Spanish property market is surely negligence on the part of the adviser.

cricketman

How could the adviser know that the bubble was about to burst in Spain?

In 2007 Spain has just had 15 years straight of really high price increases, both for sales prices and rental returns. If you look at that data, then buying in Spain was a safe bet

If the advisers actually knew what was a safe or risky bet then they would be a lot richer than they are. In the main they are just puppets selling what head office want them to sell

bobd22

Yes that is true to some extent but what have they been advised on? doesn't fullly say that or indeed timing of when this occurred (unless I am missing something). Have they gone to the advisor and asked how to free up an amount of money in order that they can buy a property in Spain that they like. Or have they gone and asked them how can they purchase a property in Spain and he has said best way is to?? Let's face it at a certain point all us who have bought in Spain have gone through some of this, do we spend all our savings, do we buy cash in Spain, can we remortgage in UK to fund Spain, do we take a mortgage in Spain. All these have advantages disadvantages and we make a decision. I for instance took the route unfortunately of a mortgage in Spain and keep a nest egg and property in UK, as it turned out an expensive decision with the collapse of the £. But my problem, you have to pay up and get on with life difficult or not. No point me saying well I spoke to this and that and they didn't say it was a bad idea.
CM also makes a valid point depending when this occurred how was the advisor to know what was about to happen? when it appears that just about no expert or Government was aware?
I think for me they have probably been reckless and are looking for someone to blame and to pay for their recklesness, which seems to have worked.

johnnyone

As you say it's a "bet" and that's the point. The couple did not want a"bet" and should have been advised accordingly. There is no such thing as a safe bet.

Domino

making a bet with yourself that it isnt worth the bet - and as usual being proved right ?

as I said before, these people put their trust in a "professional" who took payment, directly or indirectly, for his advice.
as I, working as a consultant to businesses, would be hit by giving the wrong advice based on the information provided, then he and any organisation (including professional insurance provider) involved must also suffer.

perhaps this is the start of the worm turning, when the cosy relationship the industry monitors and governing bodies have with "their people" will start to turn 180deg.

steviedeluxe

Sites like housepricecrash (in the uk) and burbuja (in spain) have been pointing out since at least 2005 that the high property prices were insustainable. It's taken a longer time to reach the UK (where prices are now falling outside the south-east ) but we've seen the US, Ireland and now Spain where the inevitable adjustments have occurred.

I'm fairly sure (if my memory serves me right) that we had a poster called Ivan on here who warned that prices would fall.

Edit: it was IvanMax, and yes, he warned us all back in 2005

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...=328608&page=1

steviedeluxe

~Heh, judging by the inactivity on the board, I think some of us have spent a long time reading IvanMax's old thread. I know I did.

Domino

I thought you were in the UK Stevie.....
house prices have been falling outside the South East for the past 2+ years
perhaps the SE should take some of the hits for a change