"His extensive knowledge and connections will play an important role in helping us highlight the substantial benefits our Vulnerability Assessment Service offers"
The service helps banks and building societies ensure that they meet regulatory requirements around the treatment of vulnerable customers. Staff who are concerned a customer may be vulnerable can refer them to one of MorganAsh’s qualified nurses, who will contact and assess the individual, so the lender can ensure they deal with them appropriately.
Simon's Little has 30 years’ financial services experience and has been working as a specialist in the retirement lending sector for 15 years.
He was previously director of the trade body for equity release, Safe Home Income Plans (now the Equity Release Council), and he has held senior roles with GE Life and Canada Life.
Andrew Gething, managing director of MorganAsh, said: “Simon is one of the leading authorities on retirement lending and later-life lending and he has an impressive network of senior contacts in banks and building societies, who value his expertise.
“His extensive knowledge and connections will play an important role in helping us highlight the substantial benefits our Vulnerability Assessment Service offers for mortgage lenders and their borrowers.”
Simon Little commented: “All lenders, and particularly banks and building societies, are increasingly lending to older people and it is now perfectly possible for someone to be repaying a mortgage when they’re well into their 90s. In this new landscape, it’s essential that lenders have a well thought through and robust policy for dealing with vulnerable customers.
“It’s important too that this policy is proactive rather than reactive, to avoid situations in which, for example, a simple failure to understand why a customer is not replying to communications ends up with a vulnerable elderly person, perhaps with Alzheimer’s, facing the threat of repossession.
“That sort of situation, which can be traumatic for the customer and result in negative headlines for the lender, is exactly what the Vulnerability Assessment Service is designed to avoid. It’s a high-quality service focused on an increasingly important area for mortgage lenders. It’s not a question of if borrowers may be classified as vulnerable but when and how many, and lenders need to be on the front foot to ensure they are able to manage such borrowers.”
