Bluestone lead backing of SEQUAL Accredited Brokers

Bluestone Equity Release today confirmed its leadership of the reverse mortgage market by being the first specialist provider to require that mortgage brokers who wish to introduce its award-winning product must have achieved SEQUAL accredited Reverse Mortgage Consultant (RMC) status.Bluestone Group CEO, Mr Peter McGuinness, said the initiative is designed to further ensure Bluestone's customers continue to receive guidance from the highest level of trained consultants who specialise in the fast growing reverse mortgage market."Bluestone has been a strong supporter of SEQUAL since its foundation in 2005, and we were particularly keen to see the development of a principles-based framework for mortgage brokers in the absence of any regulation governing the distribution of the product," he said."The industry will always be susceptible to consumers receiving inadequate or inappropriate guidance on reverse mortgages without the support of subject matter experts. The advent of the SEQUAL RMC accreditation has materially contributed to the development of a well-educated and informed industry of mortgage brokers and financial planners," Mr McGuinness said.Since the launch of the SEQUAL RMC Program in 2006, there have been over 1000 brokers and financial planners who have signed up to the accreditation, followed more recently by the MFAA's requirement that all its members wishing to introduce reverse mortgages to customers will also have secured to SEQUAL RMC status.Kieren Dell, Executive Director of SEQUAL supports Bluestone’s view, "We are pleased to see Bluestone take a strong position in supporting the need for SEQUAL Accreditation. The SEQUAL RMC Accreditation is designed to provide additional protection to consumers by ensuring there are properly-trained professionals available to guide them towards the best solution for them".