Mis-selling bank accounts is now yet another area which has been investigated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in relation to products that Banks offer clients. There are approximately 11 million Packaged Bank Accounts (PBA) throughout the United Kingdom. Following a recent study by the FCA in 2013, the Banks have to now address the various sales channels that the Banks employed, and how they dealt within their interactions with clients when they sold the various Packaged Bank Accounts through the major High Street Banks. The Banks were caught out in the mid-2000s in relation to the PPI mis-selling scandal, but prior to this the Banks had already put in place another mechanism whereby they could generate considerable sums of money that would provide (in addition to the PPI) a back-up should the PPI be challenged at some point in the future (which of course it was).
The Banks have wanted for a long time to charge clients for the operation of current accounts. Of course, as a business – who can blame them? Why would they want to operate something where they obtained no fee whatsoever? However, typically enough the Banks (whilst adopting this attitude) did not promote the product in the correct way. They did not provide the full protection to the customer that they should have received in respect of any sale that takes place with a Bank. For example, they did not establish if the product was “fair and appropriate” or “cost effective” for the client, or even whether there were any exclusions that the client might suffer.
Out of the 11 million holders of Packaged Bank Account facilities throughout the UK, there are a considerable number of these, running into the many millions that were mis-sold the account. As such, the Banks are now bracing themselves for a raft of complaints, which they are seeing escalating on a month-on-month basis. These are running into the thousands each month where people are challenging the sales process that was adopted by the Bank in relation to their particular account.
There is never of course any guarantee of success with any of these particular claims. However, when successful, the Banks are paying out a full refund. This includes all of the Packaged Bank Account charges, as well as interest, and compensatory interest set at 8%. Our average client refunds stand at just over £2,000, with the majority of the refunds being between £1,000 and £3,000. However, this does of course depend upon how long you have had the account, and therefore how many charges have accumulated over the period of time that you have had it.
We work purely on a “No Win No Fee” basis. Should you receive no refund, for whatever reason, there is no fee that you have to pay. Therefore if you do have a Packaged Bank Account and you feel (or felt) uncomfortable with the way that it was promoted to you at the time, or you feel that the products that were available to justify the £10 to £30 per month that you are paying for this particular account are of no use to you, then please contact ourselves. We can look at the claim on your behalf and establish whether the product was mis-sold. If this is the case, we can then look at taking the complaint forward to the Bank to be addressed.
We have been dealing with consumer complaints against Banks for almost 20 years. We work with individuals in a small team in order to satisfy any particular difficulties that a client may have on their behalf to a satisfactory conclusion.