BBC News on the Panorama team going undercover to see whether high street bank staff have learnt the lessons from the financial penalties imposed for mis-selling insurance and investment products
Shown 13th June 2011. BBC write-up below:
After the bailouts, the bonuses and the multi-million pound fines for mis-selling products, Britain banks say they have cleaned house and are working hard to rebuild reputations and regain customers' trust. As Panorama's Penny Haslam reports, it is an uphill battle.
We are used to hearing about borrowers paying high interest rates, or businesses struggling to get access to credit or overdrawn current account customers facing high fees and charges.
There are around 35 million savers and investors in Britain and with interest rates on savings accounts at rock bottom and inflation eating into the real value of your money there is a lot of pressure to find a better deal for that hard earned cash.
For many, going to your high street bank for advice seems a logical starting point.
Heather Adams took early retirement from her job in a post room five years ago.
She went to her bank, which was then Abbey National - now Santander - for advice on how best to invest her £11,000 pension pot.
She said she asked the bank's advisor to ensure that the money was safe as it was her nest egg. But within six months her money had halved.
"It sounds stupid but I trusted the bank's advisor to do the best thing for me. We had built up a good rapport and I really felt that he was interested in helping me," she said of her initial decision.
Worried she would end up losing it all, she decided to cut her losses and get back what she could, about £5,000.
Santander turned down Mrs Adams complaint of mis-selling but she took it to the Financial Ombudsman Service who ruled in her favour and ordered the bank to refund her a further £5000 plus interest. But, after paying a firm that helped with her claim, she was still out of pocket.
Over-eager staff
With fines for banks topping the millions of pounds for mis-selling investment products, Mrs Adams case is not uncommon. Her husband, Tony, was also the victim of mis-selling by a different bank.
Mr Adams had gone to Barclays for help with his pension lump sum and also found himself out of pocket. They sold him a product that the bank has now been fined £7.7m for advising customers to invest in.
In just under two years, Mr Adams' money had also halved. He went to his branch and spoke to an advisor.
"He told me that the way it was going, I was probably not going to have any money left. It appeared to me that I was paying them an annual management charge to lose my money."
He is adamant he was clear from the start that he wanted to keep his money safe.
"I don't go to the doctors and say can you give me a lethal disease, I don't go to the bank and say can you lose all my money."
Mr Adams also went to the Financial Ombudsman Service and they ruled in his favour. But, like his wife, after paying an advisor to help with his claim, he too is out of pocket because of the bank's mistake.
Barclays has now stopped offering in-house advice, but others still do.
James Daley at the consumer organisation Which? is concerned about over-eager sales staff in branches who are given incentives to push investment products that bolster the banks' profits, rather than suit the customers.
"Banks don't make any money on selling savings accounts, but they can make quite a lot of money by selling investment products."
Read the full report, here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_9510000/9510073.stm
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Avoid the Great Bank Rip Offby MoneywiseTV561 views
agreed that was extremely bad, shocking advice that was given in that secret footage. but problems with these 'investigation' videos is that not all banks are doing this. so right now customers are getting freaked out from videos like this for no reason because they generalise.
kudlykatmeow 4 months ago