The broker has been found culpable by the Financial Services Authority.
A mortgage broker has been censured by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), after it emerged that some of his clients had been given inappropriate advice.
As well as being obliged to stop providing regulated advice, Coventry-based Mohammed Habib was ordered by the watchdog to compensate customers who he had left out of pocket and to conduct a review of his past business dealings. Following an investigation from the FSA, it emerged that the broker had consistently failed to check whether or not clients could pay for the home loans he recommended between 2004 and 2008.
Mr Habib received FSA censure rather than a fine, as he is unable to pay the £22,500 penalty that would otherwise have been imposed by the regulator.
Jonathan Phelan, FSA head of retail enforcement, said: "Customers need to be confident that when they seek mortgage advice they can trust the recommendations made to them. We will continue to take disciplinary action against mortgage brokers who cannot demonstrate that the products they recommend are affordable."
He added: "Where we have concerns about the quality of the mortgage advice given, we will continue to require mortgage brokers to undertake reviews of past business, often at considerable cost to them, to identify and remedy any unsuitable advice."
