01254 82288001254 822880
January 27, 2016 
Daniel Lee Santander has followed suit with the rest of the major high street banks and added a significant amount to it’s already sky high PPI compensation fund.
Despite having to add a further £65 million to the Santander PPI bill it’s UK Chief Executive, Ana Botin, had the audacity to state she was happy with the banks financial figures. Further proof if needed that banks are only interested in trying to portray a positive picture for the financial markets.
This additional £65 million takes the overall Santander PPI bill, including it’s subsidiaries such as Alliance & Leicester and Abbey National, closer to the £1 BILLION mark.
Whilst this is smaller than the likes of Lloyds Group (including Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Black Horse to name a few), Barclays, HSBC and RBS/Natwest, it’s still an extraordinary figure in anyone’s books.
Santander is currently in the process of preparing the bank for a stock market flotation and can hardly afford for much bad news.
In what appears to be the next big mis-selling scandal, Santander like the rest of the major banks is bracing itself for a flurry of claims regarding Packaged Bank Accounts.
With an estimated 1 in 5 UK customers having a Packaged Bank Account, or Paid-For Bank Account as they are sometimes referred to, the general opinion of the banking sector is set for another huge kick in the teeth.
Whilst it’s clear bank account mis-selling will be the next big news, the biggest mis-selling scandal ever to hit the UK has a long way to go before it’s over.
We estimate that 7 million people have yet to make a PPI claim, with the majority of these completely unaware they have been sold PPI.
This is purely and simply down to banks and lenders hiding PPI policies within loans, mortgages, credit / store cards and hire purchase agreements without the knowledge of the customer due to the huge profits PPI generated for the financial sector.
Your Money Claim can check whether you’ve had PPI with our fast-track system, we can see whether you have a case for a mis-selling claim, we can deal with the banks on your behalf throughout the process and, best of all, we are used to beating the banks on a daily basis.
So why not contact us and start your PPI claim, or your Packaged Bank Account claim today?
Santander PPI bill
August 5, 2014 Daniel Lee Put simply, Libor (London Interbank Offered Rate) is an average interest rate calculated via submissions of interest rates by the big banks in the City. The Libor rate is used by the banks to set the cost of borrowing money from one another, and is more widely used as a benchmark to determine rates on loans around the world.
Scandals emerge when banks get greedy and try to rig the Libor rates to suit their own needs. There have been various different kinds of Libor scandal; this Lloyds misconduct is certainly not the first incident! In 2012, a former trader published an article in the Financial Times alleging that Libor manipulation had been common practice since 1991.
A month before the article was published, Barclays was forced to pay $453 million to American and British authorities in the light of allegations it had manipulated key interest rates between 2005 and 2009. In February 2013, Royal Bank of Scotland was fined £390 million by American and British regulators for its part in the Libor rigging scandal.
Good question. On the face of it, Lloyds is merely following in the footsteps of its fellow City firms in settling claims for Libor rigging. After all, this is the seventh joint penalty handed out by US and UK regulators in connection with Libor rigging.
However, under closer scrutiny Lloyds has managed to break new ground (or stoop to new lows). Following much talking and many probes, it was decided that a new independent regulator should administrate the Libor rate – in February 2014, ICE Benchmark Administration took the helm. This move was designed to tighten up regulation and increase transparency in the Libor benchmark setting process.
Unfortunately, yet hardly surprisingly, Lloyds found new ways to roll around in the mud. The Financial Conduct Authority stated that what set Lloyds apart from the previous Libor-riggers was its abuse of the government backed Special Liquidity Scheme.
The Special Liquidity Scheme was set up during the financial crisis by the Bank of England, offering super-cheap loans to troubled banks for a fee. Lloyds had the audacity to manipulate short term rates, thus reducing the fees payable for the super-cheap Bank of England loans that had been offered especially to try to help the impotent banks. I’m sure you’re as bemused as we are!
Lloyds won’t be too upset. Analysts at Deutsche Bank expected half-year profits to hit £3.48 billion after strong growth. This is certain to be undermined by the £218 million fine as well as a further £500 million provision for PPI claims but this is unlikely to see Lloyds Banking Group fall to its knees. The heavy damage to the firm’s reputation may be a bigger blow.
But, as suggested by ResPublica thinktank, bankers could always swear an oath not to rip off their customers…
Libor Scandal
October 7, 2014 Daniel Lee HSBC are widely expected to follow the likes of Lloyds, RBS and Barclays by adding to their ever increasing PPI compensation fund. The banks in general seem to be under-estimating the costs of the biggest financial scandal ever to hit the shores of the UK, almost on a quarterly basis. With the total bill now above £23 billion it’s clear that the banks have some way to go before they can finally lay this ghost to rest.
HSBC PPI bill is expected to be increased by a further £75 million, which although is much less than the likes of RBS/Natwest, Lloyds and Barclays recent additions, still takes the HSBC PPI bill over £2.2 billion.
With profits falling all does not appear to be well inside the walls of one of the UK’s biggest banks, which also owns First Direct and HFC.
It’s thought the bank is looking towards the asian market in an attempt to make up the short-falls and money set aside for such scandals in the UK and US.
Investors will undoubtedly be looking for progress from the bank in the second quarter but if you think that you may be owed money from being mis-sold PPI by HSBC, why not start your claim today and contribute to another decline in profits for the bank.
Banks continue to rely upon people who may have a valid claim not coming forward. We’ve estimated 7 million UK customers have yet to make a PPI claim, with one of the main reasons being that they are unaware they’ve been sold PPI in the first instance. Due to the obscene profits generated by banks when selling PPI, huge bonus incentives were offered to staff for selling the product. This inevitably led to illegal practises and tactics in adding PPI to loans, mortgages, credit cards, store cards and hire purchase agreements, including adding PPI without the knowledge of the customer.
Your Money Claim can carry out the checks using their fast track system, and Your Money Claim is used to beating the banks on a daily basis. So why not see if Your Money Claim can assist you.
HSBC PPI bill
September 18, 2014 Daniel Lee The next cock-up coming from the City is the mis-selling of packaged bank accounts. Some customers may even have packaged bank accounts without even really knowing whether they’re suitable, or indeed if they carry any benefits.
If you pay a monthly fee for your bank account in return for various bundled insurance policies, you have a packaged bank account. These accounts are sometimes referred to as ‘paid-for’ accounts. The insurance products vary and commonly include travel insurance, mobile phone insurance, breakdown cover and more.
Sometimes, the accounts come with other products or ‘perks’ such as preferential overdraft rates, or discounts of products and services from certain providers. Typically, packaged bank accounts cost between £5 and £30 per month.
For some people, these packaged accounts can be a useful way to access various insurance policies and keep them together neatly in one place. However, all too often customers are not made aware of the details and end up handing over money for something they don’t need and don’t want. The Financial Conduct Authority revealed bank staff have been incentivised to mis-sell packaged bank accounts to boost company profits.
As industry experts we’re confident packaged bank accounts will be the next big mis-selling scandal, and we’re equally confident we can win back the money that has been unfairly squeezed from unwitting consumers. If you have a useless packaged bank account, you’re part of a large club – it is estimated that 10 million people currently have a packaged bank account and the number keeps growing.
The Financial Ombudsman Service reported an increase in complaints from customers who did not know they had a packaged bank account and were unaware of how to access the ‘benefits’ for which they were paying. It is often not necessarily a case of whether or not a bank gave advice; it is a case of whether the advice was suitable and the customer was given enough information to make an informed decision independently.
Get in touch with experts. At Your Money Claim we have a proven track record when it comes to taking on the banks. We’re efficient and effective, and we’re passionate about results. Don’t take our word for it, take a look at our client testimonials! If you feel you’ve been made to pay for a packaged bank account we want to hear from you, get in touch via email, telephone or our live chat facility so we can begin to put things right for you.
Mis-sold Packaged Bank Account
October 7, 2014 Daniel Lee Payment Protection Insurance, or PPI as it’s most commonly referred to, has been systematically mis-sold alongside various other products and has been a handsome earner for banks and lenders for decades as they swindled money from customers by taking advantage of their position of trust. For every ten complaints the Financial Ombudsman Service receives, eight are still regarding PPI and it estimates that £50 billion worth of PPI has been mis-sold throughout the years. Now the cat has been out of the bag for a while and the tables have turned somewhat, but far too many people still remain tentative about their chances of recovering compensation regarding mis-sold PPI and whether or not they’ve even had PPI. Unfortunately, it is still the case that some consumers aren’t entirely sure what PPI was sold with. So we’ve devised a quick list to give you a better idea.
One of the most commonly sold products which came along with mis-sold PPI was mortgages. Prior to the financial crash in 2008 credit seemed relatively easy to come by, and banks took advantage of the credit boom like never before. PPI was generating such huge profits that bonus incentives were offered to staff, which inevitably led to the mis-selling on an enormous scale. Lenders advised customers that PPI assisted in the application process, or even that the credit facility wasn’t avilable without PPI. In the case of millions of customers, PPI was added without the customer’s knowledge, hidden away in the small print. It was not a matter of choice, and many homeowners paid thousands, even tens of thousands, back to the bank for insurance they simply didn’t want, didn’t need, or sometimes didn’t even know they had. The same is true of loans. We estimate that if you’ve had credit prior to 2010 you may well be in a minority if you didn’t have PPI, such was the scale of the illegal practise.
As if the 30+% APR wasn’t enough, credit card providers and store card providers have been raking in a tidy amount extra as a result of mis-sold PPI. If you’ve shopped on credit, you could be entitled to reclaim PPI. Generally PPI was added each month you had a balance on your card, and would have been a percentage of your balance.
Today is the era of cars on finance. With people looking for the convenient option of monthly payments with all services and repairs included, many were snared by mis-sold PPI. Over the duration of a car’s finance plan, thousands of pounds could be charged in PPI costs.
Another way people have fallen foul of mis-sold PPI is through catalogue purchases made on credit. Entering into a catalogue agreement, many people were given PPI without consent. It is often the case that catalogues use different names and phrases when referring to their payment insurance, but it is always in essence PPI.
If you’ve entered into an agreement to pay for goods over a period of time, for example household appliances, there is every chance this came with PPI.
Your Money Claim are the experts. With decades of experience within the financial sector, Your Money Claim is used to beating the banks on a daily basis. Such is our status within the industry, the majority of the high street banks contacted us in order to set up fast-track systems whereby we can find out whether you’ve been sold PPI quick.
We’d be delighted to take care of your claim. As a regulated Claims Management Company you can be sure that your claim will be handled in the correct manner throughout the process. We’ll answer your questions and we’ll keep you informed at every step. So why not fill in our online form or contact us via telephone, email or via our live chat facility and we can make a start on potentially recovering thousands of pounds in compensation for you.
What Was PPI Sold With?
October 7, 2014 Daniel Lee Lloyds Banking Group, which includes the likes of Lloyds, Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Black Horse to name a few, has today issued it’s most recent figures. The bank, part owned by the UK taxpayer following a rescue package by the government, has today revealed that the biggest financial scandal to hit the UK, the mis-selling of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI), is far from over.
You may recall that in Lloyds’ previous figures released to the city, it did not make any additions to it’s already staggering PPI compensation pot. This prompted analysts and so called experts to suggest this marked the beginning of the end of the PPI scandal. I suggested in my blog at the time that Lloyds were in the process of selling a 25% stake in TSB and that any bad news would affect the share price and therefore lead to losses for the bank.
I also suggested at the time that the Lloyds PPI bill will rise by over a billion over the course of the next 12 months. Three months later and they’ve added £600m to their compensation fund, so my prediction currently looks very much on course.
With RBS/Natwest and Barclays having already released their figures over the last week, with RBS adding £150m and Barclays topping up their compensation pot by £900m it’s clear that the scandal still has a long way to go before it’s over.
Unfortunately, whatever happens from now on, the banks will have profited more from selling PPI than they will ever pay back, given the compensation pot stands just over £23 billion, in contrast to the £50 billion worth of PPI policies sold. However, with an estimated 7 million people yet to make a claim, most of whom won’t be aware they’ve been sold a policy such were the tactics employed by lenders, I urge you to check your paperwork if you have it, or contact Your Money Claim who can carry out the necessary checks and work the claim on your behalf in order to recover the compensation you deserve.
Lloyds PPI bill
