Banks are writing to millions of customers advising them that they may have been mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI), following the release of new guidelines by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). The FSA estimates that between four million and 12 million letters will be sent out, but not everyone who has been mis-sold PPI will [...]
A study by car insurance provider, Esure, has found that drivers suffer from a lapse in concentration just 11 minutes into a long journey. Esure questioned more than 1,000 motorists in the UK about their driving habits and attention span. 22 per cent of those surveyed said they fell into ‘autopilot’ easily, while 34% said [...]
Insurance provider Hastings Direct is advising pet owners to take out the most comprehensive policy they can afford when their pet is under one year old. Dec Fisher, head of ancillaries at Hastings Direct warned that when people buy a new pet, they do not know what health issues they may have to face and [...]
CPP Group Plc, which provides credit card and identity protection, claims that a mis-selling investigation by the Financial Services of Authority (FSA) could put it out of business. The FSA has been reviewing the firm for a year following complaints over the way it sold card protection and identity protection products. The regulator has now [...]
David Cameron is attending an insurance summit at Downing Street today in an effort to tackle Britain’s reputation as “the whiplash capital of Europe”. It is estimated that claims for whiplash injury following accidents are adding £90 a year on average, to car insurance premiums, which have risen by an average of 17% over the [...]
The AA is launching an innovative car insurance policy called Drivesafe which could help younger drivers save up to £850 a year. Younger drivers already pay substantially higher premiums than other motorists and these costs are increasing. A new study by Confused.com suggests insurance costs for younger driver have gone up by 5.7 per cent [...]
ATOL, a financial protection scheme managed by the Civil Aviation Authority, is being extended to protect up to six million more holidays a year. The scheme ensures that holiday makers do not lose out financially if a travel company collapses, and that they are not stranded abroad. An increase in the number of holidays booked [...]
Emergency household repairs company Homeserve is taking longer than expected to get back on track after its operations were suspended last October. The company expected customer numbers to fall by 5% this year but it has increased this estimate to 8% and announced the loss of 200 jobs. It estimates that renewal revenue in 2013 [...]
Travellers whose flights were disrupted by the Icelandic volcanic eruption in 2010 can now go ahead with insurance claims. Following the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in April and May 2010, the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) ruled that the resulting volcanic ash cloud, which led to airspace being closed, could be considered a “poor weather [...]
The Association of British Insurers has warned that time is running out to ensure that UK home owners in areas at risk of flooding can afford to insure their properties in the future. A voluntary flood agreement between the government and the insurance industry expires in June 2013. Under the current agreement, which started in [...]
Compensation paid to consumers who were mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) reached a record £379m in November, compared with £268m in October. PPI was routinely sold alongside loans to protect re-payments if the customer fell ill or became unemployed, but many people were sold policies that were invalid because they did not meet the qualifying [...]
Car insurance premiums increased in 2011, despite a fall in the third quarter of the year, the AA reports. Based on its ‘Shoparound’ price index, which takes the average of the three cheapest quotes from several insurance providers, the AA says that premiums have increased by 15.3% compared with a year ago. The average comprehensive [...]
Insurance firms Direct Line and Churchill have been fined for making alterations to files before submitting them to the Financial Services Authority (FSA). In 2010 the regulator asked for 50 files to be submitted so that it could assess how the firms handled customers’ complaints. The request was part of an ongoing inquiry by the [...]
Complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) from consumers who were mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI), increased by 57 per cent to 30,301 between October and December 2010, compared with the previous three months. PPI complaints now make up 54% of the FOS’s workload. The FOS, which only deals with PPI complaints that financial firms [...]
Car insurance costs are spiralling and claims for whiplash injuries are one of the main causes, according to a new report by MPs, launched today. Although the number of road accident casualties has fallen by 23 per cent in the past six years, the number of motor insurance injury claims has grown by 70 per [...]
Stormy weather caused the number of car insurance claims to shoot up by 28% in the first five days of the New Year, the AA has revealed. Many parts of the UK suffered winds of up to 90mph resulting in thousands of pounds worth of damage to vehicles. Cars were hit by an array of [...]
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has criticised banks and insurance companies for their slow response to payment protection insurance (PPI) compensation claims. The huge numbers of PPI claims are overwhelming UK banks, with the result that customers are becoming tired of waiting and are taking their cases to the FOS. The FOS says that number [...]
Soaring motor insurance premiums have prompted an investigation by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), which could lead to a Competition Commission inquiry into the industry. Car insurance premiums increased by 12 per cent between 2009 and 2010 and by a further 9 per cent in the first nine months of this year. The average [...]
Home repair company Homeserve has announced plans to outsource its complaints handling operations. It previously handled complaints from its call centre in Walsall, but complaints were found to have been dealt with incorrectly during last winter’s period of severe weather. Homeserve received an unprecedented number of calls and some of its customers were forced to [...]
Two companies have announced new travel insurance policies this week, just in time for people setting off for their Christmas breaks. Insurance provider Hiscox has launched a new policy for all members of the family, whether they are travelling in Europe or further afield. The policy offers up to £10 million emergency medical cover, up [...]
Second salvo of QE knocks £90bn off pensions funds
Falling gilt yields have pushed final salary pension funds £90bn deeper into the red since the second wave of quantitative easing (QE) started last October, pension experts said today. The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) said the Bank of England’s printing of £125bn within the past six months had hit pension funds harder than [...]
Bank of Ireland raises cost of mortgages
The Bank of Ireland has become the latest lender to increase the standard variable rate (SVR) on its mortgages. Around 100,000 UK customers will be affected when the bank increases the SVR from 2.99 per cent, to 3.99 per cent in June There will be a further increase in September, when the SVR will rise [...]
House prices down 1.1% in February
House prices fell 1.1 per cent in February according to The Halifax, contradicting earlier figures from Nationwide suggesting that property prices have increased. According to the Halifax’s three monthly index, house prices were 1.1 per cent lower in February than in the previous three months. The mortgage lender’s annual index showed that property prices fell [...]
Debit card transactions declined by Yorkshire and Clydesdale
Customers of Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank have been experiencing problems with debit cards being declined due to computer changes. The problem initially occurred while the banks, which are both part of the National Australia Bank (NAB), were transferring their systems operations to an external contractor on Sunday morning. Problems with some Mastercard debit transactions persisted [...]
Banks write to customers over PPI mis-selling
Banks are writing to millions of customers advising them that they may have been mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI), following the release of new guidelines by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). The FSA estimates that between four million and 12 million letters will be sent out, but not everyone who has been mis-sold PPI will [...]
Confidence in pensions plummets ahead of auto-enrolement
Public confidence in pensions has fallen to an all-time low just months before the Government starts automatically putting every worker into one, new research showed today (Weds). A survey for the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) found 54% of all employees are not confident in pensions compared to other ways of saving. 37% said [...]
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) expects the UK economy to grow more slowly than previously forecast and says it faces “serious challenges”. In its quarterly economic forecast the BCC forecast growth of 0.6 per cent in 2012, a slight decrease from its previous forecast of 0.8 per cent. It expects the government’s efforts to [...]
Pension annuities should be clearer under new code
A new code of conduct is being launched by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) which should ensure that the sale of annuities is fairer and more transparent. The new code is designed to make it easier for people to make decisions about their retirement income, including being more confident in using the so-called ‘open [...]
Saga sees financial green shoots for over-50s
Saga’s latest quarterly report is slightly more optimistic about the financial health of the over 50s than its report for the final quarter of 2011, but the organisation warns that the “green shoots” of recovery are very tentative at the moment. Compared with a year ago, the report suggests that the quality of life for [...]
Drivers switch to autopilot after 11 minutes
A study by car insurance provider, Esure, has found that drivers suffer from a lapse in concentration just 11 minutes into a long journey. Esure questioned more than 1,000 motorists in the UK about their driving habits and attention span. 22 per cent of those surveyed said they fell into ‘autopilot’ easily, while 34% said [...]
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