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How a lack of emotional resilience could make your customer more vulnerable?
Liza Campion | 22.05.2023
Liza Campion, Head of Corporate Accounts, Kent Reliance for Intermediaries
How many times have you read one of those romance scam stories about someone getting tricked out of their savings by someone they’ve met online and thought ‘How could anyone be fooled that easily’?
The sad fact is though that thousands of people every year think they’re falling in love, when in fact they’re only falling for a fraudster. According to research by Action Fraud, there were nearly 8,000 romance scam crimes reported to police in 2022, with victims losing a combined £88 million to fraudsters, at an average of £11,000 each1.
Although the scammers’ methods are well-documented – slowly gaining a victim’s trust over a period of weeks or months, giving them fictitious stories about who they are, where they live and their lives, and only asking for money after an emotional relationship has been formed – they’re so effective that even those who you’d think would be most resilient still fall prey.
Everyone’s at risk of becoming vulnerable in certain situations, including when our guards are down when it comes to matters of the heart. Police believe the number of people who have been scammed is actually much higher and that many victims are too ashamed to report the matter.
This embarrassment could lead to victims of online fraud hiding the true nature of their financial position, which is why it’s so important that brokers are able to spot the warning signs that someone might be vulnerable.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) includes resilience – which includes a low ability to withstand financial or emotional shocks, such as inadequate or erratic income, over-indebtedness, low savings or low emotional resilience – as one of its four pillars of vulnerability in its guidance about how financial institutions can support vulnerable customers.
As an FCA regulated lender, ensuring customers have an appropriate degree of protection is central to what we do. We want vulnerable customers to experience outcomes as good as those receive by other customers.
As we’ll have a relationship with your customer for the lifetime of their mortgage, it’s vital that we understand them. We can only do this with your help. Unlike some other lenders, we’re a 100% intermediary-focused business. While this means you’ll always receive our support when you place a case with us, you also play a crucial role in alerting us if you have a vulnerable customer or suspect they may have vulnerabilities.
To find out more, take a look at our Consumer Duty Hub which outlines the roles and responsibilities expected of us. You’ll also find details about what we’re doing as a business to meet them and provide good outcomes for your customers, as well as copies of our fair value assessments.
Get in touch with us or speak to your BDM to find out how we can help. This article forms part of a series around the four pillars of vulnerability, others articles cover resilience, health, capability and life event.
