Plans by the banks to phase out cheque books could prove disastrous for the Brits who rely on cheques to make day-to-day payments, consumer rights group Which? has claimed. “The fact is a lot of people still rely on cheques, especially people who are housebound or for some people it’s the only way they feel [...]
Consumers seeking to reclaim bank charges or mis-sold PPI are better off making a claim themselves rather than using a claims management company. Research by consumer advice group Which? found claims management companies typically charge a 25% commission plus VAT if successful, and may also charge upfront fees. Which? also discovered that many claims management [...]
Nearly two thirds of Brits are still fuming at the banks for having caused the financial crisis, research has found. Three quarters of Brits believe banks are not genuinely sorry for their role in causing the recession, a study by consumer advice group Which? discovered. Three in five of those polled said banks have failed [...]
Banks are letting customers down and violating customers’ rights with opaque borrowing rules and incomprehensible fees, a European commissioner said this week. Meglena Kuneva, consumer protection commissioner, said: “Retail bankers are letting consumers down. “There is widespread evidence that basic consumer principles are being violated.” Kuneva made the comments at the launch of an EU [...]
For the first time ever, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has published figures showing the number of complaints made to firms in the financial services industry in the 2006-2008 period. The data has revealed an enormous increase in complaints about banking and loan products, revealing a 122% increase – from 608,620 at the beginning of [...]
Which? has been investigating equity release advisers only to find that two-thirds failed to pass benchmarks for good advice. Researchers working for the consumer group visited 40 advisers, 12 of whom specialised in equity release. A disappointing five from this group passed the Which? test, compared with eight of the 28 independent financial advisers surveyed. [...]
Internet bank Egg has launched a new credit card paying 1% cashback. The Egg Money World MasterCard has a £1 per month fee, and charges 16.9% interest on purchases and 8.9% on balance transfers. Items costing over £75 are protected against theft, loss or damage for 90 days after the day of purchase. Electrical items [...]
A number of low-cost airlines are flouting EU rules on automatically adding travel insurance when flights are booked. An investigation by consumer rights group Which? found that easyJet, Jet2 and Monarch continue to automatically add travel insurance policies at the time of booking. The cost of this extra insurance is between £7 and £10.49 per [...]
The Which? Awards, which names ‘the best of the best’ in products and services, has named the Co-operative Bank as the Best Financial Services Provider. The bank has been performing well amid the recession and its customer numbers have increased significantly in recent years because of its ethical investment policy. Since 1992, the bank’s commercial [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) must show banks that ‘it has real teeth’ if it is to protect consumers from banking blunders and greed, consumer advice group Which? said this week. Which? said banks must be hit with ‘bigger fines’ when they mess up if the FSA is to restore public confidence in the financial [...]
Savings account interest rates continue to plummet following the Bank of England’s base rate cut to a new record low of 1%. In the 48 hours before the Bank of England announced its decision, 34 providers had already cut interest on their savings accounts, according to price comparison site uSwitch.com. Fixed rate accounts were the [...]
Consumer advice group Which? has criticised several price comparison websites for failing to provide customers with accurate information. Which? investigators examined six of the most popular price comparison sites, and found that on some sites, car insurance quotes were given with a different excess to what the customer asked for. Some websites, including Gocompare.com, altered [...]
Following the Government’s announcement last month that billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money will be pumped into the UK’s struggling banks, consumer group, Which? says now is the time for banks to help out consumers. The group, which has introduced a new campaign to reform banking, said the Government must ensure that the banks are [...]
Consumer group, Which?, is warning pensioners that using equity release as a quick-fix for financial pressures in retirement can be dangerous. Equity release schemes can provide a lump sum or regular payments in return for taking out a mortgage on a property, which does not have to be repaid until plan holders die or sell [...]
Which? has been investigating competency among mortgage advisers and has found that many are omitting to check information on clients’ abilities to meet repayments. The consumer group sent its researchers to gather advice from banks, estate agents and independent mortgage advisers. Acting as first-time buyers, they visited 24 banks, 13 estate agents and 13 independent [...]
A report, which is due to be published next month, reveals that 2 million customers have been sold potentially worthless payment protection insurance (PPI). The policies cover monthly payments for goods, services or loans during illness and redundancy. Over the last 5 years, 6 million have signed up for the deals but the Office of [...]
Phone fraudsters stealing bank card pins
Fraudsters using a phone scam to trick bank card holders into revealing their pin numbers stole £750,000 in the first four months of this year. This is the same amount stolen through this scam in the whole of last year. The fraudster telephones a bank customer, often someone elderly or vulnerable, telling them that their [...]
FSA rules out ban on interest-only mortgages
Speculation that the Financial Services Authority would ban interest-only mortgages as part of its Mortgage Market Review has proved to be unfounded. However, lenders will be required to monitor the performance of the investment product taken out by the customer to repay the mortgage at the end of its term. Investments are performing poorly because [...]
Bank of England may end free in-credit banking
A director of the Bank of England has warned that official intervention could be considered to end the ‘dangerous myth of free in-credit banking’. Andrew Bailey has already spoken out against free banking in relation to the mis-selling of financial products. In a speech made available to media, he reiterated his concern, saying that it [...]
Bank of England votes against more economic stimulus
The Bank of England voted against a further round of quantitative easing, at its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. Just one member, David Miles, voted for further asset purchase to encourage growth in the UK economy, while the other eight members voted to keep the Bank’s quantitative easing programme steady at £325bn. The minutes [...]
Catalogue debt growing says helpline
Calls from people concerned about their debts with mail order catalogues accounted for more than 12 per cent of all calls received by National Debtline last year, compared with just 8 per cent in 2007. More people were concerned about catalogue debt than about payday loans, mortgage or rent, according to the Money Advice Trust [...]
Homeserve faces mis-selling investigation
HomeServe, which provides emergency insurance cover and domestic repairs to households in the UK, is to be investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Issues over the possible mis-selling of household emergency policies were uncovered last October during an internal review at the Walsall-based company. Homeserve’s call centre staff were found to be selling ‘Complete [...]
OFT warns Wonga over debt collection methods
Payday loan company Wonga used aggressive and misleading methods to collect debts from customers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has found. Wonga sent letter and emails to certain customers suggesting they had committed fraud and threatening to report them to the police if they did not act in the way Wonga suggested. The company [...]
NS&I re-launches investment account
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has re-launched its Investment Account at a higher interest rate than it previously offered. The account now offers 0.75 per cent before tax, compared with between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent previously, depending on the account balance. Deposits and withdrawals on the account can no longer be made at Post [...]
Rightmove reports property downsizing trend
Two in five property owners planning to sell in the next year are planning to ‘trade down’, compared with one in four who plan to ‘trade up’. A survey by property website Rightmove found that moving to a smaller home is the main reason for moving in nine out of the ten regions in the [...]
More people failing to save for retirement
The proportion of people with no pension savings has grown from 20 per cent to 22 per cent over the past year, according to Scottish Widows’ latest survey. The pension provider surveyed 5,200 adults in the UK, aged 30 or over, and earning at least £10,000 a year, for its annual review of pensions. Ian [...]
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