Dec
21
2012
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Image source: BrilliantBrighton.com
I wrote this week that Lloyds has hired an external investigator to look into sales pressure that may lead to mis-selling. Even though they’ve promised to do better, it seems Lloyds has fallen well short. But now it looks like even the “ethical” bank – the Co-operative – is less decent than they want us to believe. An internal survey done at Co-op was seen by The Sun newspaper and showed that things at the ethical bank are not as they seem.
Almost one third of Co-op staffers say the bosses they work for don’t “demonstrate fairness and honesty.” The same number say the bosses don’t “treat staff with respect” and “think the company makes decisions that are not focused on customer needs.” And nearly 20 per cent say they’ve been bullied in the last year. Continue reading…
Dec
21
2012
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Rachel S. with
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Image source: GeartakerHolidaySale.blogspot.com
This has been a spotty year for us – we’ve had ups and downs as a nation. The Diamond Jubilee was magic, the Olympics impressive and the news that there’s a royal baby on the way is absolutely thrilling. On the downside, the PPI claims scandal rages on, Libor rate rigging emerged and has finally triggered arrests and myriad other financial scandals have marred our fair nation. But there has been some good news as well. Here are five things we can be grateful for this Christmas:
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Dec
21
2012
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Rachel S. with
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Image source: WilliamDiong.blogspot.com
We’ve been writing for months that you should make your PPI claim as soon as possible, but every day that passes, it becomes even more important that you file soon. What was once estimated to be a £2 billion scandal has now escalated to £15 billion and the banks have begun to signal they’re tired of paying out and are looking for an exit strategy. Confederation of Business Industries’ chief John Cridland said a time limit on PPI claims should be established because: “This is money that can only be spent once and I can’t help thinking that the time has come for it to be put to work more productively through lending into the economy.”
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Dec
20
2012
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Image source: Guardian.co.uk
High street retailers are hurting this year. Sales are down on last year’s numbers and cash strapped UK households are cutting back on gift giving across the board. Have you cut back or is it Christmas as usual in your house? We aren’t buying less, but we are spending less. I wrote back in the summer that I start my Christmas early – I shop sales all year long so that I don’t have to lay out a huge wad of money right at year end. But most people tend to sacrifice their late November and December pay packets for Christmas rather than string it out like we do. But if your pay packet is spent before it even hits your account, what can you do? Many people are enjoying the benefits of PPI refunds and using that to have a Christmas they could not otherwise afford. Continue reading…
Dec
20
2012
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Image source: Telegraph.co.uk
Looks like Lloyds has just until the end of the year to continue pushing packaged accounts – they’ve declared a moratorium on the sale of these high priced accounts which can run up to £300 per year. Many consumer groups and media outlets have expressed concern that these are just more mis-selling. The perks of packaged accounts are not appropriate or are duplicate for most customers and generated high commissions for those who sold them.
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Dec
20
2012
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Rachel S. with
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Image source: SaveTheChildren.org.uk
E.ON is losing over 1,000 customers every day despite promises of a price freeze. August, September and October showed 100,000 customers left the energy giant. With customers leaving in droves, E. ON broke their price freeze and implemented a rate hike that averaged 8.7% per customer. An energy industry expert said, “E.ON got it royally wrong and has been left counting the cost.”
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Dec
19
2012
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Image source: TheSun.co.uk
Lloyds has promised to do better, has changed their compensation plans and hired new bosses that pledge to clean up the bank’s battered reputation. But I’ve had Lloyds employees write me and The Sun with tales of bullied staffers. Despite the changes, mis-selling continues at Lloyds. Despite the promises, Lloyds’ staff continued to be mercilessly pressured to meet high sales goals. And it doesn’t seem like Lloyds can get it under control, because they’ve hired an outside investigator to look into their broken system.
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Dec
19
2012
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Image source: Telegraph.co.uk
A report released yesterday by the National Audit Office took aim at HM Revenue & Customs poor handling of taxpayer calls into its costly 0845 hotline numbers. While their assessment acknowledged that HMRC has improved since 2010 – its worst year ever – it spelled out that it had a long way to go to be satisfactory. We expect to pay taxes, but we don’t expect (or shouldn’t expect) that we will funnel money into charge lines to make required calls or to get the help we need to pay our taxes.
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Dec
19
2012
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Image source: Bloomberg.com
There’s a little known cash point secret that’s now blown wide open. Hundreds of thousands of us each year are walking away from the ATM without the cash we withdrew. If you get distracted, get a text or a call and don’t notice, we may leave our money there and wander away. After 30 seconds, the cash point inhales that cash back inside, but it wasn’t being refunded to customers as a matter of form. Despite the banks’ computers knowing who the cash belonged to, they kept it from unwitting customers – yet another example of casual fraud banks seem all too comfortable perpetrating…
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Dec
18
2012
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Image source: ComplianceX.com
As I reported last week, Libor rigging arrests are finally starting to roll in and I hope there are more to come. And now regulators in both the US and UK are prepping to hand out huge fines to RBS and UBS on both sides of the pond. Barclays rushed to an early settlement and was able to escape with just a £290 million fine, but RBS and UBS are facing much larger fines. RBS is expected to be fined £350 million or more and UBS is expected to pay more than Barclays and RBS combined – or roughly £625 million.
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