|
Major High street banks will come under attack today over revelations that 1.3 million customers claim to have had their current accounts upgraded to expensive packaged accounts without their consent.
More than 15 per cent of customers with a packaged current account, which usually offers extra perks in return for a monthly fee of about £10, say that they had not received notice before they were switched to fee-charging accounts, according to research from uSwitch, the price com-parison website.
The Banking Code Standards Board (BCSB) said that the practice of upgrading customers without consent contravened the Banking Code, a voluntary set of rules with which most banks have agreed to comply.
Adrian Lloyd, compliance director at the BCSB, said: “If the switch to a fee-charging account is done without notice and without consent, then it would be in breach of the code.” The BCSB said that it had intervened in the past when such automatic upgrades had taken place.
Industry experts accused banks of using packaged accounts, which often offer discounts on other services from the banks, to profit from consumer inertia and to plug other financial products that are often poor value.
Nick White, of uSwitch, said: “Packaged accounts allow banks to charge customers for the privilege of being cross-sold additional financial products. Just because they claim to offer customers a discount for taking up the additional services does not mean it is the best deal.”
Banks have been promoting fee-charging accounts fiercely in recent months. Packaged deals, which come with benefits such as breakdown insurance and ID theft insurance, are a lucrative source of revenue, generating an estimated £530 million a year. About 20 per cent of current account-holders, or eight million people, are signed up to the deals. Abbey and Lloyds TSB started “premier” services this year.
Despite the additional benefits, uSwitch says that one quarter of customers with packaged accounts do not use the extra services for which they are paying.
Mike Naylor, the principal researcher at Which?, the consumer group, said: “Banks are exploiting misplaced consumer loyalty. People genuinely think they are being given a good deal when, in fact, obtaining best-buy deals separately would be cheaper.”
The findings will reignite fears that free banking is about to disappear from Britain.
Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds TSB and Royal Bank of Scotland said that they would never automatically upgrade someone without their consent.
The Times September 27th, 2006
|
