The Association of Professional Financial Advisers (APFA) has said that claims management companies should pay a fee to bring claims against its members, which can be refunded if found to be legitimate.
The body says that this would discourage spurious claims in its response to the MoJ’s consultation on further regulation of the CMC market. APFA says that the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) received 2,707 complaints about financial advisers in 2015, of which nearly one in five were brought by a CMC. However, only 22% of them were successful.
It did say however, that making a complaint to the FOS should remain free for consumers.
APFA has also argued that its members receive poor quality information in claims. To remedy this, it has urged the Government to require CMCs to obtain confirmation from their clients that all the information they have to support their claim is correct.