Been very busy with the creation of our new tool suite designed to help those moving property or looking to move, or those looking to find out about their area, and amenities that are local to them.
We have been working hard on our amenity locator tool, which is under development as we speak. We would like some feedback on the tool upon its beta release, stay up to date by visiting this blog post 
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined Sesame Limited £330,000 for failing to treat its customers fairly by not handling complaints concerning Structured Capital At Risk Products (SCARPs) adequately.
The problems with Sesame’s complaints handling were identified as part of the FSA’s thematic review of SCARPs during March and August 2004. The FSA found that Sesame incorrectly rejected complaints from approximately 350 customers between March 2003 and October 2004 when customers had lost nearly £5.9 million. The complaints related to sales made by Sesame’s legacy networks.
William Amos, Head of Retail Enforcement at the FSA, said: “Sesame has no excuse for complaints handling failures of this kind, not least because the FSA had already issued a number of publications concerning both SCARPs and complaints handling. The failings we found highlight the need for firms to implement and maintain robust complaints handling procedures and to train staff adequately.”
After the FSA identified the problems, Sesame took prompt action to ensure all affected customers were compensated and engaged external advisers to review its SCARPs complaint handling procedures and train its staff. Without the firm’s co-operation and commitment to mitigation and remedial action, the penalty would have been substantially higher.
For first time buyers many may feel that buying a property is something that maybe just out of their reach as property prices continue to rise and wages are not keeping pace with the increase. Lenders are well aware of this and are trying hard to help where ever possible, A number of lenders have taken the step of lending up to 125% of the purchase price to help first time buyers get that first all important first step on the ladder and to help pay off any short term debts that may impact on the household budget. Also a number of lenders now look at affordability rather than the old 3x gross annual income, which in the current market would not go very far. This method allows lenders to consider lifestyle and cam mean up to 4x joint income in some circumstances. Because there are so many choices clients should always seek the advice of an Independent Financial Adviser who will be able to advise clients the right lender and scheme to suit their own individual circumstances.
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