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One of Australia’s leading brokers has questioned the credibility of a new online service for financial advisers.
Justin Doobov, managing director of Intelligent Finance, said the free Adviser Ratings service, which was launched to help advisers boost their service and be rated on their credentials and performance, lacks validity and authority.
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“The site is geared towards customers giving feedback, and a lot of those types of sites can be ‘dodgied up’ by friends and family posting good reviews just to improve the profile of a broker, which may or may not be true,” he said.
Mr Doobov said that although the Adviser Ratings website is free for now, it will probably be monetised in the future, and may then “bully” advisers into paying a fee just to increase their rating or status on the website.
“If this happens, it will lose its tag of being independent,” he said.
Instead of providing a customer feedback website, Mr Doobov suggested the broking industry could introduce an online ‘report card system’ where new industry entrants are sponsored by an employer, and the employer is required to give them a report card.
“The report card could then be uploaded onto a website database and shown on the broker’s profile,” he said.
Mr Doobov said the system would benefit the consumer by providing them with third-party feedback on the broker from their employer and lender that would be independently verified.
“It would add credibility to the broker’s rating, rather than just having unverifiable customer reviews saying that they did a good job,” he said.
“It would also give the consumer confidence that they are going with the right broker to get a home loan.”
