Access Equity Release has been suspended as a member of the Equity Release Council (ERC) for 12 months, the council has confirmed.
The equity release broker was removed from the members section of the council’s website and had its membership suspended while under investigation in June, following a Mortgage Solutions investigation into the closure of Your Mortgage Decisions (YMD), a former trading style of Access Equity Release.
Your Mortgage Decisions, previously run by directors Dominik Lipnicki and Martin Wade, went into administration in March, owing more than £1.2m to creditors including mortgage brokers.
YMD had been charging its customers up to £3,995 for a lifetime remortgage service, but the advent of Consumer Duty rules led to lenders Santander and Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) refusing to accept business from the broker unless it reduced its charges.
In January this year, Lipnicki emailed staff telling them YMD was instructing an insolvency practitioner, stating that the company had suffered legal and regulatory threats over the weeks leading up to the closure.
Trading name transfer
Access ceased to be a trading style of YMD on 15 September 2023 and was transferred to a different company, Eadon & Co, on the same day, where Wade is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to advise on or arrange equity release mortgages.
Another former trading style of YMD’s, The Remortgage Business – last active in 2010 – was also resurrected in November 2023 under Eadon & Co, operating out of the same premises as YMD.
However, this was short-lived. The Remortgage Business name ceased to be a trading style of Eadon & Co on 20 August, while a notice from Companies House states The Remortgage Business is under notice to be struck off its register and dissolved no fewer than two months from 2 July.
12-month suspension
When Access was suspended pending investigation in June, the council said that while it was not uncommon for a trading style to be transferred to another regulated parent, it would examine whether the member or connected trading name had fallen short of its standards.
Following its investigation, Access has been suspended from the council for 12 months.
A spokesperson for the council said: “At the end of this period, [Access is] welcome to apply for membership again, but they would need to satisfy the council that they are able to adhere to our standards and meet our conduct expectations.”
Access Equity Release did not respond to Mortgage Solutions’ request for comment.
Samantha Partington is a freelance trade and consumer journalist writing about property and personal finance. Previously she worked worked for the Daily Mail and Property Week. She is the former deputy editor of Mortgage Solutions and editor of Specialist Lending Solutions.
Before becoming a journalist, Samantha worked as a mortgage broker and latterly for a mortgage, bridging and secured loan lender. Samantha is CeMAP qualified. Follow her on Twitter @SamJPartington1.