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June 8, 2015 
Daniel Lee Packaged Bank Accounts, or Paid For Bank Accounts as they are sometimes referred to are soon to be big news. Brace yourselves, you may well be hearing about these on the same sort of scale as PPI!
A Packaged Bank Account is basically an account that includes a monthly fee ranging from £5 – £30 in return for various insurance products, most commonly travel insurance, mobile phone insurance and vehicle breakdown cover to name a few.
With 10 million of these accounts active today it’s estimated at least 1 in 5 of us have one. There could well be millions of these accounts that are no longer active, but claims can still be made against these so don’t be put off if you used to have a Packaged Bank Account, we can still help.
Just as PPI, these have been mis-sold on a staggering scale, in order to generate profits for the greedy banks that would make your eyes water. There are so many reasons for a mis-sale, and we’ve talked about this previously.
In 2013 there were nearly 6,000 Packaged Bank Account claim complaints made to The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). It’s important to remember the FOS don’t see the full 100% of complaints, only the ones rejected by the banks.
In the 2012/2013 tax year the FOS saw 1,629 complaints made so overall we estimate that there was less than 5,000 made in that year. This grew significantly the following year, 2013/2014, as the FOS recorded 5,668 complaints, thus giving an estimated 17,000 complaints made to the bank in total.
This year there has been a rapid increase to 400 daily Packaged Bank Account complaints made EVERY DAY to the banks. At that rate we can expect 146,000 complaints to be made this year, an increase of 870%!!!.
Complaints made about the mis-selling Packaged Bank Accounts now accounts for 17% of complaints made to the FOS, with PPI still taking up 77% of complaints.
As complaints about PPI start to drop a little, and it is just a little, Packaged Bank Account claims is the fastest growing area of complaint being dealt with by banks and the FOS. We estimate that Packaged Bank Account claims could well hit the heights that PPI has, given the fact that it’s easier to spot than PPI, which was often hidden away in the small print, whereas a Packaged Bank Account can be spotted by simply checking if you pay a monthly fee for your account.
We are of the opinion that the compensation bill for the banks is likely to run into the £BILLIONS, much a with PPI.
The banks have yet to come out and state what they believe the cost of paying compensation will be, probably because they don’t want to highlight the fact they’ve been caught cheating AGAIN.
They will eventually have to put a figure on things, although we wouldn’t be surprised if the majority of the banks, including HSBC (including First Direct), Lloyds (including Halifax and Bank of Scotland), Santander (including Abbey and Alliance & Leicester), Barclays and RBS (including NatWest), place their initial estimations at a relatively low figure.
The banks don’t want to advertise the fact they’ve been cheating, nor do they wish to startle investors and shareholders by stating what the true cost of the scandal could be.
A clear example of this is the PPI scandal, where banks have consistently reported a much lower figure to what we believe the eventual cost will be. In 2012, the banks released a statement stating their belief that the final PPI bill will be £25 billion. They haven’t changed this stance, even when they recently had to add £3 billion in the space of 6 weeks to the compensation pot, taking it to £24 billion. With an estimated 7 million people yet to claim PPI compensation, we believe the final figure will surpass £30 billion with ease over the course of the next 18 months.
We expect the banks to use the same tactics when it comes to dealing with, and reporting on Packaged Bank Accounts, but don’t be fooled, this will be a huge number.
Our experts have looked closely into just how much this new scandal could end up costing the banks, and the figures are huge, so let’s take a closer look to see how we estimate that the total bill could run into the £BILLIONS.
This figure doesn’t even take into account the thousands, or even millions, of Packaged Bank Accounts that have been closed!!! You are still able to claim on a closed account so our figure may well be an underestimation.
Your Money Claim are the experts in recovering compensation for mis-sold Packaged Bank Accounts, and mis-sold PPI.
Your Money Claim carry out the necessary checks, build your case, deal with the banks (and their tactics) every step of the way and keep you updated with the status of your case throughout. Taking the stress and time out of making a claim, and beating the banks every day is what we do, so why not start your claim today?
Packaged Bank Account Claims
August 11, 2015 Daniel Lee Everyone loves their granny and grandpa but they could be missing out on quite a significant amount of money due to their lack of experience using things like tablets, smart phones and computers.
Tens, even hundreds, of thousands of elderly people around the UK could be missing out on money that is owed to them in PPI reclaims. According to the charity Age UK, there are an awful lot of elderly people missing out on money that is owed to them due to not being online.
Denise McKenzie from Age UK Hammersmith & Fulham is convinced that elderly people are missing out. Denise is behind the Money Wise project in the area which has set out to create greater awareness for finance in the local area.
It is estimated that the number of elderly who aren’t online, or don’t have a firm understanding of the internet, is more than 25%.
The primary source of news for anyone who is looking to reclaim mis-sold PPI is the internet, and if 25% of pensioners are not accessing this information then they’re even less likely to know they may have a valid case for compensation.
It’s generally felt that our older generations are also averse to cold calling, which could be a bit of a silver lining to this potential cloud. Cold callers are to be avoided at all costs, as this is where people can get themselves into trouble with rogue firms. Signing up to any company that cold calls could end up costing thousands, rather than being thousands better off.
So, the more than 25% of elderly people that aren’t online is quite a a large amount of people. Our estimations bring us a figure of 7 million people in the UK that have STILL yet to make a claim, and there will be a significant number of elderly people among them.
First things first, if you’re reading this then chances are you have a decent grasp of the world wide web. However, as the world moves more and more towards an online way of living, there will be many people who may well start to feel cut off if they’re not computer and internet savvy.
The government are setting up free training courses on a regular basis, which reaffirms just how important they feel a basic understanding of computing and internet knowledge is becoming. Age UK run specialist computer training courses aimed at pensioners, and you can find one near you if you click here.
Do you know of somebody that isn’t exactly computer literate? Could they be missing out on claiming what they could be owed? Are they one of the estimated 7 million yet to make a claim? Are you?!!
Making a claim couldn’t be simpler, simply fill in our online form and we’ll get a pack out to you. All it takes is two minutes of your time and you could be thousands, or even tens of thousands better off.
Your Money Claim, using it’s fast-track system, can locate your accounts (even if you don’t know them), check whether you’ve had PPI, and deal with the lenders every step, fighting your corner all the way.
If you’ve already staked your claim, but you know of others who haven’t, whether it be friends or family members, then why not take advantage of our industry leading referral scheme.
You’ll find all the details here.
Elderly Owed PPI
September 18, 2014 Daniel Lee We’ve claimed back thousands of pounds for thousands of our customers and we’re continuing to do so. But we figured, why should we just claim the money back for our customers and leave it at that?
Payment Protection Insurance is a product that was mis-sold with a number of different products such as mortgages, credit cards, loans etc. PPI was intended to cover any of your re-payments for your mortgage, loan, credit card, etc. should you find yourself in a position where you were unable to make the payment. For example, if you became ill or lost your job, you would have been covered by this insurance.
More often than not though, you would find that bank salesmen would mis-sell the product in order to hit sales targets and that is what has led the country to the state that it is in today with the PPI mis-selling scandal becoming the biggest mis-selling scandal in Britain.
This is a product that could be seen as an alternative to PPI. It is very similar but not exactly the same in that PPI will only cover the cost of the loan or credit that you have taken out, nothing more or nothing less.
Income protection insurance covers you for your whole salary as opposed to just the loan or amount of credit you have. Formerly known as permanent health insurance or PHI, long-term income protection insurance or IP, is an insurance policy that pays out should you not be able to work due to illness or injury.
IP also pays out until retirement, death or you make your return to work but this depends entirely on the type of policy you took out as there are cheaper, short term policies available. More often than not, IP doesn’t pay out if you’re made redundant but does offer “back to work” help if you’re off sick.
Insurance policies such as payment protection insurance and private medical insurance, which the general public was convinced it needed, were widely mis-sold by salespeople and not necessarily what the customer needed.
There’s only one insurance policy that all working adults should have in the United Kingdom and that is income protection insurance.
Also, they normally pay-out based on a percentage of your earnings of which the norm is 50 – 70% and these payments are always tax free. If you want any more information on income protection insurance, click this link.
There are a few other alternatives out there for you to look into. If you’re unsure where to look for them, it wouldn’t harm you to sit down and talk to your employer.
We say this because your employer may cover you if you are ever off sick or if you’re unable to work for one reason or another. You may not need to look into any additional cover if you’re already covered by your employer.
More alternatives are for you to start to look into what state benefits there are out there. These are the kinds of benefits that are paid for through national insurance contributions or NICs. If you’re an employee, more often than not, you’ll be entitled to SSP or statutory sick pay for up to 28 weeks which will be paid by your employer. This currently stands at £75.40 a week.
One other alternative for you to look into is employment and support allowance (ESA). If you’ve been paid your SSP, you will have come to the end of that after a maximum of 28 weeks. After this period, there’s then a 13 week period where you’ll be assessed to see if you qualify for the ESA.
If after this 13 week period it turns out you do qualify for ESA, you will then be notified of which type you qualify for. There are two types of ESA that you could qualify for. If you want to read more about any state benefits you could be entitled to, check out Direct Gov.
If you think that you have been mis-sold payment protection insurance, you should get in touch with us and one of our claims experts will be on hand to assist you should you have any questions.
If you want to give us a call, you can find our phone number here. We also have a live chat facility on our website so if you’d prefer, one of our claims experts will be on hand to chat straight away.
PPI Alternatives
June 8, 2015 Daniel Lee Paid for bank accounts complaints, also known as Packaged Banked Accounts, are really starting to rocket with 400 new complaints now being made daily.
The majority of high street banks such as HSBC (including First Direct), Lloyds (including Halifax and Bank of Scotland), Santander (including Abbey and Alliance & Leicester), Barclays and RBS (including NatWest), have been caught mis-selling paid for bank accounts, leaving an estimated 1 in 5 adults paying for ‘deals’ they don’t want or need.
Customers can end up paying up to £300 per year for insurances that may may not even qualify to use. Life cover, mobile phone cover, travel insurance and break down cover are the most common products that form a Packaged Bank Account, and customers can pay anything between £5 – £30 fee per month for these so-called perks.
Our experts have looked closely into just how much this new scandal could end up costing the banks, and the figures are huge, so let’s take a closer look to see how we estimate that the total bill could run into the £BILLIONS.
This figure doesn’t even take into account the thousands, or even millions, of Packaged Bank Accounts that have been closed!!! You are still able to claim on a closed account so our figure may well be an underestimation.
There’s a simple reason why banks have mis-sold ‘paid for bank accounts’, and that is the HUGE profits that they generate. With a £12 per month packaged bank account costing just £3 to set up it’s easy to see why banks have targeted staff to sell these accounts in their droves.
Paid for bank accounts is sure to be the next big mis-selling scandal. After the massive PPI scandal we would like to think that banks had learnt their lessons, but it’s now abundantly clear they’ve done the polar opposite and continued to use underhand tactics in order to profit from their customers.
To make matters worse, the banks have also been caught handling complaints unfairly. Sound familiar?!
In the vast majority of instances the banks did not fully explain what the account entailed and what we were all paying for. They didn’t offer us an account without the insurance products. They didn’t even make sure we were suitable for the products they sold. What use is breakdown cover if you don’t own a vehicle?!
Last year the FCA ordered that banks and building societies changed their selling tactics to ensure that all paid for bank accounts are suitable for customers needs. Time will tell whether the financial sector have heeded this warning, but experience points in only one direction unfortunately.
Your Money Claim are the experts when dealing with financial claims such as PPI and Packaged Bank Accounts, so why not start your claim today?
Paid for bank accounts
August 11, 2015 Daniel Lee No win, no fee is a term that gets banded about very often but you may have your concerns as to whether or not a company is being honest and what you can do yourself to check whether or not they’re a legitimate business.
To clarify, if a claims management company (CMC) goes by their “No Win, No Fee” policy, they will not charge you a fee for their services. So, it’s a no brainer to go with one of these companies, right?
For you, the customer, the pros to the no win, no fee policy are the fact that we will always strive to do our utmost to ensure that the outcome of any claim you make with us is settled in your favour.
After all, we don’t want to be wasting our time by not striving to ensure that you get a satisfying outcome because we won’t receive any payment. If you would like, you can have a read through some of our testimonials to give you that peace of mind that we always work to get the right outcome for our customers.
The cons to the no win, no fee policy are that you need to be careful who you choose to go with in terms of making your claim. We’ve a few points for you to check before agreeing to go with a company.
All of the above can be doubled checked for Your Money Claim and if you’re happy with all of that, why not start a claim with us today.
Quite often, though, a lot of people don’t check for these things and they just go ahead and start a claim with a company and hand over sensitive and personal information without checking. This is where people get stung.
There are a few things for you to be aware of when you’re looking for a company to start your claim with. If ever you’re contacted by someone who claims to be working on behalf of a claims management firm and they start asking you for details, don’t hand over any of your personal details.
No matter what you may be told over the phone by a claims management company, they should be avoided if they try to tell you that you have a claim or that you are definitely entitled to compensation. If companies like this are found to be breaching the rules and regulations, then the regulator has the power to shut them down if necessary. To give you a bit of insight into CMCs that have been shut down, we did a blog post earlier in the year.
There are a lot of cases out there in the news that show just how easy it is to fall for the tricks of the scammers. One woman was contacted by a company called Hamilton-Reid & Co Limited who claimed to be a claims management company.
Hamilton-Reid & Co Limited are a company who, when contacting this particular customer claimed, that they had a “100% viable case” for this particular customer as she had been mis-sold payment protection insurance on her credit card.
The big factor for this woman going ahead and giving this company her details was the fact that they told her they operated on a no win, no fee basis. They said that they would have their costs of £395 covered by the card issuer and that the customer wouldn’t be charged.
She willingly handed over her card details and later found out that she had been charged £454 and now she is struggling to get through to the company which it turns out aren’t even licensed.
This case is a prime example of what we’ve mentioned in this post. If you’re being contacted by anyone you MUST check. Ask them the questions that you need to, ensure that they’re regulated. ASK, ASK, ASK.
Don’t just fall for what they’re saying about no win, no fee. As has proven with the above case, the woman couldn’t get back in touch with Hamilton-Reid and subsequently lost her money. You can avoid becoming another statistic by simply doing the checks that you need to do.
If you do have a claim that you would like to start and you would like it to be handled by a fully regulated CMC, why not download one of our PPI claim forms today or alternatively you can click here to start your claim with us today and get the ball rolling.
If you’ve got any other questions, we’ve got experts on hand to answer them with a live chat feature on our website. Alternatively, you can give us a call and we’ll be more than happy to assist in any way we can.
No Win, No Fee
September 16, 2014 Daniel Lee Recent figures show that UK banks still haven’t got their acts together with almost 150,000 complaints made against the 10 most complained about banks in the first half of the year.
Our banks and lenders will have us believe that they are getting their house in order, but these statistics don’t lie.
With an average of one complaint being made every 30 seconds it’s clear the banks are continuing to let the British public down in almost every area possible.
It comes as no surprise to see the following banks safely tucked into the top 10 positions of worst banks:
Lloyds Banking Group (including Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Blackhorse) – 62,132 complaints
Barclays (including Barclaycard) – 27,487 complaints
Royal Bank of Scotland (including Natwest) – 13,654 complaints
HSBC (including HFC, First Direct) – 13,240 complaints
Santander (including Abbey, Alliance & Leicester) – 8,569 complaints
Bank of America (including MBNA) – 7,980 complaints
Capital One – 5,303 complaints
Nationwide – 4,983 complaints
National Australia Group (including Clydesdale Bank, Yorkshire Bank) – 2,666 complaints
Citibank – 1,930 complaints
These banks and lenders have proven time after time that they cannot be trusted to look after our finances, and are far too concerned with lining the pockets of their shareholders, rather than looking after the best interests of it’s customers.
Sorry, there are no prizes for guessing that the most complained about product STILL, is Payment Protection Insurance (PPI). Although there has been a slight fall in the number of complaints made about PPI, it still accounts for approximately 70% of the total number of complaints made.
We cannot foresee this changing anytime soon, given the fact that our estimations suggest there are still 7 million people who have yet to come forward with a complaint about their mis-sold PPI, many of them still unaware they’re been sold the product.
However, there is a new kid on the block, so to speak. Mis-sold Packaged Bank Account complaints are rising steadily and we believe this is the new big mis-selling scandal and will soon be in the news as much as PPI.
It’s clear that we cannot trust the banking system, it’s broken beyond repair and will remain that way until such time as the Financial Conduct Authority starts to hit these banks with proper fines, rather than fines that have little impact or deterrent factor.
Could you be one of the 7 million yet to claim? Your Money Claim can carry out the checks and work on your behalf to get the compensation you deserve if you’ve been mis-sold PPI or mis-sold a Packaged Bank Account.
Contact Your Money Claim today, we’re here to answer your questions, and fight your corner.
Bank Complaints
