The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards issued sanctions to 13 current or former holders of its CFP certification for various violations, including one who allegedly sent an angry email with a personal insult to a reverse mortgage client. This is according to reporting by Financial Advisor magazine.
David Nute of Sequim, Wash. – located roughly 70 miles northwest of Seattle – had his certification revoked for allegedly not treating “fellow professionals and others with dignity, courtesy and respect,” the board said, according to the report. The board was informed of the incident by a former prospective client who asked Nute if she could drop off documents to his office rather than submitting them electronically.
Nute told the client that this would require him to travel to his office to pick the documents up, believing his time to be “too valuable.” When the client replied that she no longer wanted to work with him, Nute allegedly replied with a personal insult.
“It is totally ridiculous to expect me to drive into town and waste a couple hours of $1,000 hourly time,” he said according to the reporting. “I was only trying to help, and your reactions tell me why your husband left you.”
Nute told Financial Advisor that he was “upset” after the client failed to go through with a reverse mortgage.
The reverse mortgage industry has been embracing more technological tools to cater to seniors comfortable with submitting important documents electronically but has also had to acknowledge the desire many seniors have to keep technology out of the processes involved with sensitive information.
Many lenders have rolled out online portals for loan documents and servicing in recent years to allow more tech-based options for document submission. However, many seniors also still prefer a classic “kitchen table” approach.
The COVID-19 pandemic also challenged financial services broadly and reverse mortgages specifically to facilitate more tech-based solutions, particularly for seniors, who have a higher level of vulnerability and susceptibility to serious illness stemming from the coronavirus.
Financial advisors remain a core constituency that the reverse mortgage industry has prioritized to establish viable referral partnerships for finding potential reverse mortgage borrowers, however some may not be fully aware of the more consultative nature of the reverse mortgage business.
Read the story at Financial Advisor.
