Thank you for your support and comments Sparky. Perhaps I should have said IMA (Independent mortgage adviser) rather than a broker:) If you live within the industry you have a focused understanding of lenders and their criteria with no other distarctions.

My post was not inteneded to seem cap in hand but information for Joe bloggs who is unaware of how their access to advice is being undermined with the collaboration of the banks and the FSA. If you were aware of the disclosure of the number of complaints against banks and the number that were upheld you would realise that the continued dominance of the lenders hold on the direct market is completely against the FSA's theory of Treating Customers Fairly. I am happy that most customers will seek advice but my responsibility is to find the best deal for them. I today have told someone to go to their bank (HSBC) to see what they will offer them, based purely on rate. If they need advice I can't give them any because HSBC criteria is not available to us IMA's.

I myself have dozens of clients hanging around on low variable rates until the market recovers and this of course hinders recycling deals and I have been using insurance sales to keep going as all the survivors are. The real issue is that if lenders price advisers out of the market and there is not a level playing field then advice will be non existent and possibly over 50,000 people looking for new jobs??? The government or BoE could create that level field but hang on though the worst offenders are now government owned. Strange that???