The MCOB mortgage advice scorecard, all 34 criteria.
Seven sections — disclosure, fact find, suitability, costs, affordability, related needs and close — each criterion weighted and given a severity, with two items consent-gated. Every row is below; nothing is trimmed for the page.
One bar, seven sections.
Weight (1, 1.5 or 2) sets how much a criterion counts toward the overall percentage score. Severity is scored separately: a critical item failing can flag the call for review regardless of the overall percentage, so a missed early repayment charge explanation does not carry the same consequence as a missed pleasantry. Two items are consent-gated, meaning the scorer's rule is that they are met only on a clear affirmative, not on silence.
| Criterion | Section | Weight | Severity | Consent-gated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adviser, firm and FCA authorisation stated | Disclosure | 1 | Medium | — |
| Call recording and data use disclosed | Disclosure | 1 | Medium | — |
| Scope of service made clear (whole of market or panel) | Disclosure | 1.5 | High | — |
| Advised basis made clear | Disclosure | 1.5 | High | — |
| Broker fee disclosed: amount, when payable, refundable | Disclosure | 2 | Critical | — |
| Lender commission / procuration fee disclosed | Disclosure | 1.5 | High | — |
| Data sharing explained and customer agreement obtained | Disclosure | 1.5 | High | Yes |
| Needs and circumstances established before any recommendation | Fact find | 2 | Critical | — |
| Income, employment and expenditure captured | Fact find | 1.5 | High | — |
| Existing credit commitments captured | Fact find | 1 | Medium | — |
| Deposit or available equity established | Fact find | 1 | Medium | — |
| Credit history explored | Fact find | 1 | Medium | — |
| Foreseeable changes in circumstances explored | Fact find | 1.5 | High | — |
| Term extending into retirement addressed | Fact find | 1.5 | High | — |
| Repayment method rationale given | Suitability | 2 | Critical | — |
| Term rationale given | Suitability | 1.5 | High | — |
| Product type rationale given | Suitability | 1.5 | High | — |
| End of initial rate period and payment shock explained | Suitability | 2 | Critical | — |
| Recommendation explicitly linked to stated needs | Suitability | 2 | Critical | — |
| Alternatives considered and rejection explained | Suitability | 1 | Medium | — |
| Product transfer versus remortgage compared | Suitability | 1 | Medium | — |
| Total cost of borrowing explained, not just the monthly payment | Costs | 1.5 | High | — |
| Early repayment charges explained | Costs | 2 | Critical | — |
| Product, valuation and legal fees explained | Costs | 1.5 | High | — |
| Overpayments and portability explained where material | Costs | 1 | Low | — |
| Affordability affirmatively checked | Affordability | 2 | Critical | — |
| Affordability at a higher rate discussed | Affordability | 1.5 | High | — |
| Vulnerability screened and responded to | Affordability | 2 | Critical | — |
| Protection need raised | Related needs | 1 | Medium | — |
| Buildings insurance requirement mentioned | Related needs | 1 | Low | — |
| Understanding checked and questions invited | Close | 1 | Medium | — |
| Next steps, timescales and documentation explained | Close | 1 | Medium | — |
| No pressure or false urgency | Close | 2 | Critical | — |
| Consent to proceed and credit search obtained | Close | 2 | Critical | Yes |
Get the CSV, ready to import.
The table above is the full template — nothing held back to make you ask. What an email gets you is the file: one row per criterion, with the description and AI-check guidance behind each label, in the exact column format CallGuard's scoring engine imports directly. Email us and a member of our team sends it across.
A scorecard is the start, not the whole system.
This template is the criteria list. CallGuard AI is the engine that transcribes every advice call, scores it against a scorecard like this one, shows the transcript evidence behind each pass or fail (or records that none was found), and is shown your compliance officer's corrections as scoring examples on that criterion. Full detail is on our mortgage advice use case. Selling protection alongside the mortgage? See the protection consent-gate checklist, or browse the full template library.
Common questions, answered.
Is this scorecard FCA-approved or endorsed?
No. It is a starting template, not an FCA-endorsed standard, and using it does not guarantee compliance. It exists so a firm building its first AI-scored QA programme is editing a scorecard on day one rather than starting from a blank page. Reword criteria, change weights and severities, delete what does not apply and add what your permissions or lender panel demand.
What does the weight and severity on each item mean?
Weight (1, 1.5 or 2) sets how much a criterion counts toward the overall percentage score. Severity (low, medium, high or critical) is separate: a critical item failing can flag the whole call for review regardless of the overall score, so a missed early repayment charge explanation does not carry the same consequence as a missed pleasantry.
What does consent-gated mean?
A consent-gated item carries a stricter rule for the scorer: it is met only on the customer's clear yes. A vague or inaudible answer is not a pass, and neither silence nor the adviser simply saying the words is agreement. Where it is not reliably clear which speaker is the customer, the item goes to a manual review queue and a person decides, because a false pass on a consent item is the worst result the scorer can produce.
How do I get the CSV version?
Use the Email me the CSV button above, or email hello@callguardai.co.uk. There is no account to create. A member of the CallGuard AI team emails the CSV across, formatted as one row per criterion with label, description, weight, severity, section and consent-gate columns, ready to import.