Is Money Advice Service Money Wasted

Is Money Advice Service Money Wasted

The Money Advice Service, “Talk to Ma” as you may have seen on television, is a free money guidance service paid for by the us in the financial services industry.

It was set up as a sort of “legal aid” scheme where people could get financial guidance on all money matters for free.

In short, financial advisers, banks and insurers have been forced to pay a levy to the Financial Services Authority to funds the Money Advice Service.

The MAS cost the industry £350m to set up.  The Chief Executive Officer was paid £350,000 per year and then left under a cloud.

The MAS proposed budget is £78.3m for 2013/14, with £43.8m funding money advice and £34.5m funding debt advice. 

Again all paid for by us regulated financial services firms.

The Money Advice Service has not been a resounding success and now over £4m is to be wasted when the equivalent of 150 full time staff are made redundant.

We Opposed MAS and Still Do - Don't talk to Ma ....

When proposed, we opposed MAS, people with little or no financial services qualifications or experience giving consumers guidance and calling it unbiased, impartial advice - tosh!

We actually tested the MAS call centre with a client and the advice offered was poor, inaccurate and just wrong.

This service continues to be a financial drain on the industry with the costs ultimately passed on to you, the consumer and is yet to deliver proven results.   We worry for people that talk to them for money advice.

We have suggested to the Treasury and the FSA on multiple occasions that the most satisfactory route would be to engage the services of say 500 or so Chartered Financial Planners around the country (on a scheme similar to the legal aid scheme) and then use the MAS budget to provide free financial advice to people who cannot afford it.

Contact us today and learn why MAS may not be the expert advice you think.