Adviser hits out at CII's fee for credits
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An IFA has hit out at the Chartered Insurance Institute after it charged him £20 to issue credits for a CeMAP qualification he gained from a rival awarding body.
Richard Blackshaw IFA sole trader Richard Blackshaw says after signing up for the CII diploma he was told he will be charged a £20 administration fee because his CeMAP, which he obtained in 2005, was awarded by the ifs School of Finance and not the CII.
Blackshaw says: “Why are they charging me so much money just to be put on their system? I think it stinks. This is just a charge for the sake of it - these companies are making a fortune out of us.”
A CII spokeswoman says non-CII exams have to be verified and checked for quality and where exams are less well-known than CeMAP the fee can be higher.
She adds: “An admin fee of £20 is reasonable.”
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Readers' comments (14)
John Blackmore | 2 Dec 2009 3:04 pm
I agree but would be quite happy to pay £20 to the CII if they would accept my BA (hons) degree or post grad or my MBA from New York or my Master of Science from Illionois.
Unfortunately these degrees were obtained more than 10 years ago and can not be allowed .I have little doubt that should a CII spokesperson comment they would make references to loss of memory with age and anyway wat is the point - they want all the old F..ts out anyway.
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Ray Prince | 2 Dec 2009 3:49 pm
they want £90 from me to be exempt from AF5 as I have the CFP. £90! a total joke - I'm assuming the CII have verified the CFP qualification (of course they have), so why do they want so much money?
I guess it's because they'll be missing out on the exam fee. Maybe the FSA should apply a bit of TCF to the CII as they're clearly not treating advisers fairly when it comes to this (I did ask for an explanation from the CII bod at the customer services centre, but obviously they gave the scripted response).
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Rambling Syd | 2 Dec 2009 3:56 pm
£20 seems like a bargain to me. I've taken this route and have been credited with 20 diploma points - a lot less expensive than the cost to sit a JO paper for the equivalent credits.
I wonder how much the admin charge would be if the CII needed to verify the Doctorate I was offered in a recent email (having decided that the offer of an enlargement to my d**k in the same email was not really needed)...
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Anonymous | 2 Dec 2009 4:14 pm
Why would anyone want to go with the CII anyway? What's wrong with the alternatives?
And why rely on the CII to "verify" the exam (I am also a cfp)? Isn't this what the QCA was originally set up do? Is the suggestion the CII might overrule the QCA (or whatever it calls itself now)? And isn't the whole thing still fairly farcical- I spoke to the QCA a few years back regarding obtaining a sight of their assessment of a particular exam and was told no such assessment existed-they graded exams by the number of hours study the examining body said was required to pass it.
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David W | 2 Dec 2009 4:22 pm
Its a disgrace - just goes to show they are money spinners.
I have to pay £200 for the 60 credits at AF level for my financial services degree, which is basically to cover the cost of the AF exams I'd otherwise have to take! - What a nonsense!
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David Trenner - Intelligent Pensions | 2 Dec 2009 4:37 pm
Why do so many IFAs expect to get everything for free? Some of them whinge about paying for study material, others about the cost of exam entry and resits. Recently we had someone whinging that the CII did not list them just because they were not a member!
We will be a profession one day, once we get rid of all those who think we are an industry and deserve free rides everywhere!
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richard blackshaw | 2 Dec 2009 4:38 pm
Im the one that started this ball rolling. I know £20 isnt that much but this is a mickey take. The IFS dont charge (that I know of) to recognise another qualification because these are already accepted qualifications.
Is it the FSA that are dictating what happens in our industry or the people/organisations that are making the money out of it that have the say on our business???
If you have a previously recognised qualification and you have sent proof in to the relevant body it should be accepted without any charge whatsoever. We are supposed to be moving towards a recognised standard and there should be no charge, however little, for something you already hold. It is just another money making farce from people set to make a fortune out of us.
Look at it this way; If AIFA has 8500 "firms" on its books and 4000 advisers do the same as I have with the CeMap qulification then the CII are set to rake in £80k just to recognise something we have already got.
Please Money Marketing. Get the tabloids involved to see how we, as advisers, are being pushed to the limit. I have had one colleague die of a heart attack and one who has just survived a recent heart attack, all brought on by stress - and these aren't isolated incidents. These are untold stories of what is happening to real people - and no one in authority cares!!!!
Oh and to top it all - and you will like this - my CeMAP certificate is signe by non other than RON SANDLER!
Wake up guys and smell the coffee........or should I shout at the top of my lungs GRAVY TRAIN!!!
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Richard Blackshaw | 2 Dec 2009 4:52 pm
David Trenner - sorry David, I have only just seen your comment and I take your comments, Im presuming aimed at me, as an absolute insult.
Lets get one thing straight. For 20 years I have paid my way. I have given free, yes free advice to many clients and I still do to this day, last week being one of them. I am not in it for a free ride but I catagorically object to companies making money out of me and taking my family's income just because they can. If I didnt , I would go out everyday and leave my front door open so that anyone could walk in and take what they want.
I have just paid the CII close on £500 for study material etc and I am taking time off work to study etc which means this costs me money.
By objecting to a £20 charge for something that really does not require a charge does not mean I am not a "professional" or that our industy will not "be a profession" one day.
Cant you see that these companies are rubbing their hands with glee with the compulsory cash that will be rolling in? You have no choice in the matter. The fact that you have no choice in the matter is positively grotesque.
And I dont mind so much paying for the study material in a way, but for gods sake, why charge you for something that has already happened and is universally recognised. Its a joke. Would you pay again for something you already own?
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Peter Turner | 2 Dec 2009 5:47 pm
I recently wanted to take some extra qualifications with IFS and sent certified copies of my MAQ and FPC.
They charged me rather less than Richard was charged - £20 less to be precise!
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Anonymous | 2 Dec 2009 6:34 pm
For the record the CII is a not for profit organisation. Any surplus it makes is reinvested. Its published results for 2008 show a surplus of £762K - considering it has over 93,000 members in 150 countries this doesn't seem particularly high.
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