6-Weeks Left to Expunge Client Complaints from Your Record

To sign up for this webinar, click on the following link:

https://advisorshare.com/expunge-client-complaints

This is an important newsletter for those who have a Series 7 license, but it should also be useful to those who have a Series 65 license.

What’s a complaint? For this newsletter, a complaint is when a consumer contacts FINRA or the SEC and makes a formal complaint about an advisor.

Complaint examples—

Misrepresentation: An advisor misrepresented the nature of an investment, its potential returns, or its risks.

Unsuitable Investments: An advisor recommended an investment that was not suitable for the client’s financial goals, risk tolerance, or age.

Unauthorized Trading: An advisor executed trades without obtaining client approval.

Poor Performance: A complaint could arise when a portfolio significantly underperforms expectations due to the advisor’s negligence or failure to manage the investments properly.

Does it really matter if you are at fault? Bogus/frivolous complaints stay on your record for decades. Young advisors with little money may not fight these complaints. In hindsight, many wish they had and can use the expungement process to get them removed.

Expungement is a process where financial professionals can ask FINRA to remove inaccurate or undeserved customer dispute information from their  Central Registration Depository (CRD) record, which is public in Broker Check.

I’ve talked with MANY advisors who said that an old customer complaint cost them new clients (they did a background check, saw the complaint, and decided NOT to work with the advisor).

Many Series 7 licensed advisors are not aware that FINRA’s updated rules set a firm October 2025 deadline for expunging settled customer complaints over two years old. If a disclosure on your Broker Check record misrepresents your professional integrity, NOW is the time to explore your options.

If you have an old complaint you’ve been meaning to get removed from your record, NOW is the time to take action.

For Series 65 licensed advisors (non-FINRA regulated), while you are not subject to the same deadline, you should still attend the webinar to learn about the expungement process.

I know an advisor who had disclosures from an investment that went sideways for several clients (wasn’t the advisor’s fault). One client was successful with filing a complaint and 8 additional clients then followed suit.

Even with these complaints, the advisor persevered and built a nice financial planning practice. He’s also a good guy and I would say a good advisor.

Four years later, it was time for him to retire, and suitors were offering $2M for his book of AUM. He decided NOT to sell and to get his disclosures expunged. After the expungement, he ended up selling his book for $6.7 million.

So, if you are thinking of one day selling your book of AUM, getting old/frivolous claims expunged from your record may make a lot of sense (and help you sell your book for a higher multiple).

I know the firm behind this success story, and the owner of that firm will be the speaker for the upcoming webinar.

His firm, to date, has worked with 2,000 advisors on BrokerCheck and IAPD Disclosure Expungements around the country making them the #1 firm in the industry when it comes to cleaning up an advisor’s record (so they can increase book value in preparation of an M/A event or simply to make advisors feel better about competing in a marketplace where a disclosure could mean the difference of not gaining a new client).

So, if you are Series 7 licensed and have an old claim on your record, you have a very short time window to get it removed.

If you are Series 65 licensed, even though you don’t have the same deadline, if you have an old claim you would like to get removed, you too should attend the webinar to learn more about the expungement process and whether you should use it.

To sign watch this webinar, click on the following link:

https://advisorshare.com/in-person-seminars-that-work