ASIC has issued a warning to the mortgage broking industry regarding misleading advertising.

‘Don’t claim that you are independent or impartial if that’s not true’, Mr Greg Tanzer, ASIC’s Executive Director of Consumer Protection and International said.

‘In every case that we have examined to date, we found such claims were misleading. For example, you cannot be totally impartial if you only deal with a limited panel of lenders who are paying you commission’, Mr Tanzer said.

Mr Tanzer issued the warning after ASIC accepted an enforceable undertaking from Structured Financial Solutions Pty Ltd not to use the words ‘impartial’ or ‘independent’ in any future advertising or promotional material.

ASIC considered the claims misleading and deceptive because Structured Financial Solutions advises consumers only about the lenders appointed to its panel. All of the lenders on the panel pay commission to Structured Financial Solutions.

ASIC has previously taken action against Fintrack and Mortgage Choice.