"The Advise Wise fact find and suitability letter system sets new standards in client assessment and guidance for equity release advisers."
In the wake of the FCA's recent review of the equity release marketplace, Advise Wise has launched a new fact find and suitability letter system.
The new system has been in pilot for several months and is now available to all members for free. Amongst the key features is a comprehensive adherence to the FCA and ERC guidelines: the system aligns with the FCA recommendations and follows the Equity Release Council's 24-point checklist on best practices, ensuring that equity release advice is in full compliance with industry standards.
The system also includes a variety of integrated tools to help advisers determine the most suitable equity release options for their clients.
Mandatory income and expenditure evaluations are included into the system to fully assess client’s needs covering both ongoing debts and disposable income, while the integration with entitledTo's benefits calculator tool allows advisers to check state benefits eligibility and ensure clients receive all the financial assistance they are entitled to.
Dynamic medical questions are also integrated in the system to help secure the best rates for clients based on their health conditions and advisers are provided with a vulnerability assessment tool, ensuring they can identify and address any potential vulnerabilities in the clients' financial situations.
The system also offers a deep dive into alternative solutions, giving advisers the information they need to make the right product recommendation and not solely focus on equity release.
Product sourcing on the Advise Wise Platform includes both RIO plans and later life mortgages and provides advisers with a full product comparison tool to compare multiple solutions side by side and find the best fit for their clients. The product search also incorporates underwriting criteria, eliminating the need for separate tools.
Integrated AI support is also included to facilitate the completion of suitability letters efficiently and adviser firms can request deeper customization and compliance support, such as requesting to have dynamic question sets and suitability letter content tailored for their network, if they prefer to use their own questions and compliance content.
Advise Wise Fact Find is fully printable and can be completed offline, online, or a combination of both to meet the adviser’s specific needs. In order to make the completion even more efficient and include the client in the process, Advise Wise has introduced a new trial feature to allow clients to fill in parts of the Fact Find online; this also enables the adviser to save time by reducing their workload and eliminates the need for re-keying.
The suitability letter generation adheres to the FCA's guidance on document lengths, signposting information from the fact find and Key Facts Illustration (KFI).
Benjamin Wells, head of product and development at Advise Wise, commented: “The Advise Wise fact find and suitability letter system sets new standards in client assessment and guidance for equity release advisers. This system is the industry's only freely accessible tool that seamlessly incorporates all of the FCA's recommendations while addressing critical areas such as adherence to the Equity Release Council guidelines, precise income and expenditure evaluation, and a dynamic assessment of medical conditions to secure the best rates for clients.
“This system is set to revolutionise equity release advice by providing a comprehensive, user-friendly, and compliant platform for advisers. It truly allows our users to say goodbye to manual processes and fragmented tools and embrace the future of equity release guidance. In addition the system comes with various flexibilities and opportunities for white labelling, making Advise Wise the only fully flexible sourcing solution in the later life market.”
