Not upheld: mortgage advice handling and alleged misrepresentation regarding mortgage approval complaint against Westways Financial Limited (appointed representative of Port Anchor Financial Solutions Limited)

Decision detail

Summary

Mr W complained that Westways Financial Limited misled him into believing his mortgage application would be approved, causing him to incur approximately £1,950 in survey and legal fees. Westways terminated the relationship after Mr W provided bank statements in an editable Word format, which raised authenticity concerns despite Mr W's explanation of a technical issue. The ombudsman found that Westways had reasonable grounds for concern and acted appropriately in terminating the relationship without disclosing its concerns. The ombudsman concluded that nothing in Westways' communications guaranteed mortgage approval and that Mr W was not encouraged to incur the fees, therefore not upholding the complaint.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Westways had reasonable grounds to be concerned about the authenticity of the bank statements based on their editable format and metadata, even though Mr W was acting in good faith. The ombudsman considered it reasonable for Westways not to disclose its concerns, as doing so could assist fraudulent actors. The ombudsman determined that Westways had the right to decide who to do business with and that nothing in the communications could reasonably be interpreted as a guarantee of mortgage approval. The ombudsman also found that Mr W was not encouraged to instruct solicitors or surveys, and that he could use the surveys for his intended purposes regardless of the mortgage outcome.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website