Packaged Bank Account cover – Are you happy?

Speaking to friends and family regarding the new mis-selling scandal sees me being asked many questions, and much as the same as the PPI scandal was, people initially feel they are satisfied with the cover they have.

Unlike PPI which was hidden, buried within contracts for many, Packaged Bank Account fees are generally easy to spot. If you pay a monthly fee for your account then you have a Packaged Bank Account.

So, onto the dilemma of being happy with your Packaged Bank Account cover, and not knowing whether making a claim that it was mis-sold, is worth it.

Levels of Packaged Bank Account cover

The first question you need to ask is what exactly are you covered for? Are you aware of the restrictions in cover?

I’ll start with my own circumstances, and that of my partner, to give you two examples.

Firstly, my partner. She was sold a Packaged Account that included travel insurance, mobile phone insurance, and vehicle breakdown cover. These are three of the most common insurances that are included.

My partner didn’t drive at the time she was sold the account with the insurances!!!

We travelled outside of Europe, and the travel insurance on the account only covered European travel.

She does have a tendency to lose her mobile so I’ll give her that one!

However, two out of the three insurances were completely useless. We made our claim through Your Money Claim and received compensation of just over £600.

Price comparison

My account had the same policies included on my Packaged Bank Account cover. I do drive, and travel within Europe, and I also have a mobile phone, so I could use all three policies within reason. Having said that, I hadn’t checked the small print so there may be many hidden exclusions that I was unaware of.

Nevertheless, let’s assume that I’m able to use the policies. I pay £14.99 per month for these ‘perks’, or £179.88 per year.

Using simple comparison sites I’m able to obtain the same level of cover for just £78.12, a saving of over £100 per year.

When you also take into account that the insurance excess fees on the Packaged Bank Account policies range from £50 – £200 more than the stand alone comparable options it becomes clear that by spending just a few minutes of your time can save you money.

Compensation

There are many reasons for a mis-sale, and these can be found via our blog here.

The average compensation amount we are recovering for our customers at present is over £1,000. With over 10 MILLION Packaged Bank Accounts still active, and millions more that are not, we estimate the final bill will run into £BILLIONS.

Can the banks treat me any differently if I make a claim?

The simple, and resounding answer is NO NO NO NO NO.

No bank or lender is allowed to treat their customer any differently for bringing a complaint to them. If any bank were found to have done this they would open themselves up to huge fines.

Banks must adhere to strict guidelines when it comes to Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) and any bank found to be acting outside these guidelines would face the harshest of action from the regulator.

So, to summarise, if you’re paying for a Packaged Bank Account cover it’s almost certain you’re paying over the odds. The bank have, pure and simply, ripped you off in order to generate profit. Moreover, your bank cannot treat you differently for you raising a complaint regarding the sale of the account.

Start your claim

Claiming couldn’t be simpler. Your Money Claim deal with the case every step of the way.

Your Money Claim beats the banks so you don’t have to. With tens of thousands of customers receiving MILLIONS in compensation, Your Money Claim is used to beating the banks on a daily basis.

Packaged Bank Account cover