Business Secretary Vince Cable told the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee that big banks are misleading the public.

High-street giants kept on insisting that they are accepting eight out of ten applications from those enterprises but the public is being deluded by how much they are lending to small and medium enterprises.

According to Vince Cable, this does not disregard the fact that many are hindered even from applying. Most of the demands are being discouraged. And that is the real problem!  If only the number of bosses being discouraged from applying were included, then that would lower the high success rate claimed by the banks.

The Federation of Small Business said many of its members are worried that it would cause trouble and one day banks would automatically get what the public owes them. Banks placed restrictions on lending that is why instead of going to the banks, most of the members resort into using credit cards or borrowing money.

Economy is plunging into recession.

As for the economic growth figures, Mr. Cable described it as a very pitiful outcome and a serious problem. With businesses approaching the banks for credit, less than half of them are being accepted.

SME lending fell in February. Under the Project Merlin, Britain’s five banking giants namely HSBC, Santander, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) will lend about £190billion to businesses including £76billion to small firms which is up to 15% this year. However, net lending by the five banking giants was only £2billion including the SMEs between January and March.

Big banks argued that they are happy to lend to viable businesses. They urged SMEs not to be dismayed from applying and not hold back from stories that people are rejected and burdened by unfair bank charges. They want to make clear that they are not employing high interest rates and bank charges.

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is currently receiving roughly 5,000 fresh claims for mis sold PPI every single week. After the high court ruling on reopening of PPI mis-selling claims last 20^th April 2011, payment protection insurance (PPI) is projected to become the most complained-about financial product ever sold. Over 1.5 million have already asked compensation from their respective loan providers. Most attempts of getting compensation are rejected by banks however those who have taken the next level of seeking the Financial Ombudsman Service got overwhelming results.

It is expected that aside from this great number of claims, there are still millions more of customers who are known to have cases of PPI mis-selling. Truth to be told, more than 16 million PPI policies have been sold unknowingly to customers together with debt products such as mortgages, credit cards and unsecured loans. These mis-sold PPI are placed hidden in the contract and were just added to the total loan amount thereafter resulting to unfair bank charges. Worse, including students or self-employed workers, who are definitely ineligible to claim, were made to sign up to policies.

It is said that this payment protection insurance repay loans if a borrower can no longer sustain paying for his/her loan due to unemployment or sickness.

Last December 2010, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) established new rules which obligated the insurers to review past sales of PPI even without the complaints made by customers. With this, the banks, led by the British Bankers Association (BBA) challenged the reform. They were complaining on how the FSA applies its new rules to old cases which they believe is more than unfair. However, BBA failed to get the high court’s ruling.

An estimated amount of up to £1.3bn over the next five years to come will be paid out on new complaints according to the City Watchdog. Moreover, the reopening of mis-sold PPI claims is estimated to reach about £3.2bn amount of pay-out.

The FSA’s review into PPI arises amid a wider clampdown by the regulator on the way consumer products are sold in the aftermath of the financial crisis. What forced the regulator to abandon its “light touch” attitude and go for a more intrusive approach which could include outright product bans and caps on fees is the series of mis-selling scandals recently.

Perhaps the issue on mis-selling of PPI seems to be never ending. Reclaiming unfair bank charges due to hidden fees caused by these payment protect insurance could be best for anyone who is struggling for his/her finances all because of these hidden subsidies.

Just today,  the long awaited judgment on the Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) judicial review has now been announced.  The British Bankers’ Association has lost a judicial review over measures to offer its customers protection through the sales of PPI against the Financial Service Authority and Financial Ombudsman Service. They are given 21 days to appeal the judgment of the high court. The  BBA had launched the said review in London last October which in turn triggered a policy statement published by the FSA in August drawing measures to protect consumers buying PPI. This included guidance to ensure complaints are handled properly, an explanation of when firms should analyse past complaints, and an open letter setting out common sales failings.

Despite the court’s decision, the processing of PPI complaints will still remain on hold for now according to the BBA until they will have a decision on what steps to carry on in the light of the ruling.

“We are disappointed with today’s judgment and now need to consider the details of it very carefully as well as next steps, including whether it would be appropriate to apply for permission to appeal. Any complaints that are directly affected by the judicial review and therefore cannot be decided will continue to be placed on hold until the next steps have been decided” as declared in one of BBAs statements after hearing the decision.

On the other side, FOS chief ombudsman Natalie Ceeney said, “This judgement is very clear-cut – and it confirms that the ombudsman’s approach to PPI complaints is right. People have been waiting a long time while the banks’ legal action has been ongoing. I would now like to see financial businesses showing real commitment to sorting out their customers’ complaints efficiently and promptly.”

“We believe this decision signals the end of years of poor complaint handling and will trigger a dramatic improvement in the way customers are treated when complaining. The FSA has not put a waiver in place so firms must continue to deal with complaints where possible, including letting customers know they can refer their complaint to the ombudsman if they are unable to progress it. Failure to do so may result in enforcement action.” The FSA added.

It is perhaps a good news to the consumers who are looking forward to receiving compensation on their claims. Now that FOS and FSA have the court at their backs, consumers would no longer be fearing on the prevalence of  unfair bank charges due to mis sold PPI just like before.

A crucial high court ruling will finally decide on Wednesday, at 10 o’clock in the morning whether banks must re-examine the old cases of claims by clients who declared that they were mis sold PPI. This would be the time for the enormous number of bank customers who were victimized by this controversial loan cover if they are entitled for compensation.

About 6.5 million Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) policies are sold annually. However in the mid of 2007, a rising number of complaints against PPI caught the attention of the public. Known as the controversial loan cover, PPI are sold though it is not needed by the customer.

Due to its prevalence, the Financial Service Authority wants banks to change the way that these policies are sold. They also want them to contact those customers who are found to be victims of previous mis-selling. This mandate from FSA has raised the brows of banks led by the British Bankers’ Association and stated that they are lobbying against changes that they say set new standards for old sales unfairly.

The number of complaints received by banks on PPI highly escalated last 2010 due to media coverage and claims management companies which seek and demand for their customers’ refunds. Up to now banks have refused to deal with the mis-selling of PPI until the final ruling.

With much fortune, customers who were refused by their banks and instead filed claims on to the independent Financial Ombudsman Services were nearly all a success. By the year 2009, almost 90% of complaints were upheld.

It is just up to the high court’s decision now if these bank customers are to receive their due compensation. Bankcharges.com has already made a lot of those people who were refused by their banks smile as they receive the compensation right for them.

The shareholders have finally reached out for the government’s intervention on the high charge fees of investment banks. They explained that they have growing frustration at the high level of fees and the lack of mechanisms to hold banking advisors to account. Multi-million pounds fees are charged by these banks to advise Britain’s top companies. Under the proposed plans arranged by the government and the shareholders, they will be cutting radically these fees.

One of the reasons for banks large profits are high fee costs. No doubt that these bank executives receive significant bonuses. As stated under the new proposal, these investment banks could be paid in the shares of the companies they advise. That is to say, the amount of fees will be at risk if the shares do not perform well or fall after an overambitious float.

The investors are also seeking the support of big global investment houses to guarantee that any measures are imposed internationally. The proposals include the following:

• Requiring companies to pay investment banks in shares for work ranging from rights issues and advising on a merger or acquisition to big restructurings
• Forcing the banks to hold the stock for at least three years.
• Subjecting banking advisers to re-election at company annual meetings, in the same way as auditors have to be voted back in.
• Using the votes to create a “blacklist” of banks that charge excessive fees.

“Due to the global nature of some of these markets and the absence of strong representations from customers, the Commission’s current view is that there may be limited scope for action by the UK authorities at this time. The Commission is therefore minded not to explore competition in wholesale banking markets further.” Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) concluded.

A big number of people suffer from excessive bank fees while top bank executives enjoy the pleasure of receiving a bounty of bonuses. Here in Bankcharges.com, we help you pursue the initiative to reclaim unfair bank charges. It may be due to mis sold mortgages or mis sold PPI, unfair bank charges will be refunded as soon as you start your claim.

It has been revealed that mortgage lenders have failed to pass the full drop in interest rates despite the fall of the Bank of England’s from 2% to 4% since July 2000. With this, homeowners are being overcharged by almost £200 annually.

HSBC stated that its three biggest rivals have manipulated rate changes to take advantage of those house buyers who are using standard variable rate (SVR) mortgage. Halifax, Abbey National and Cheltenham & Gloucester, UK’s biggest lenders, have fallen by only 1.74%, letting them earn an astounding extra profit of £1.27bn since July.

Based on HSBC’s research, eight out of ten biggest home loan companies have kept their charges higher. Those who have reduced to their correct levels are only Nationwide Building Society and HSBC. “The lower the base rate, the bigger the profit, which can’t be right. When money’s cheap, the benefits should be passed on to customers by lenders, not siphoned off” explained Clive Wood, head of banking and mortgages at HSBC.

On the other hand, the reason behind why the lenders keep their SVR up is to raise cash that will then be used to subsidise cheap deals to attract more new customers. A Halifax spokesman defended that only 10% of their book is now on an SVR, and more than one million people have been moved on to better deals during the past three years now.

Mortgage rip-offs by banks are consistently hurting the financial wellbeing of homeowners. This event remains unstoppable until the government puts an iron hand on its policies. Bankcharges.com has been helping homeowners in reclaiming refunds from mortgage rip-offs by their lenders. If you are currently bugged by the fact of mortgage rip-offs, you can directly ask for assistance on how to get through that dilemma in a no-win no-fee arrangement.



Mis Sold Mortgages are one of the results of the banks lacking of price transparency. Competition among banks is not as resilient as strong as it once was and a lack of transparency and comparability of prices has meant that consumers have fewer options available to them.

“Consumers are suffering from a lack of price transparency and comparability in the current account market, as well as facing difficulty switching providers” as highlighted by the Treasury Committee. Until now, the banking sector is still not appropriately competitive and is failing a great number of its customers.  “This lack of competition is contributing to low switching rates on current accounts and the selling of overly-complex products, which mean consumers are losing out” explained Sarah Brooks, head of financial services at lobby group Consumer Focus.
Moreover, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) also reminded the Committee it is working with the banks to focus on the benefits that the consumers get through ensuring the greater transparency in the market. “For competition to be effective, customers need to know what they are buying, how much they are paying and to be able to transfer their custom from one provider to another without risk”, says Committee chairman Andrew Tyrie MP.
By doing so, the cases of mis sold mortgages and mis sold ppi would perhaps be eliminated. Transparency in prices and enhancing of competition among banks would greatly benefit their customers. “We also received much evidence about low levels of consumer satisfaction and poor treatment of consumers by the major banks. We could not but conclude from this that competition in the UK retail banking market is not strong enough”, he added.
In case you were treated poorly by your banks and have suffered from paying unfair bank charges, then this is good news for you. Bankcharges.com has been dealing with a number of similar cases and made refunds possible.

At the fastest rate since records began in 1970, homeowners paid off their mortgage debt, placing £7bn of equity in the final quarter of 2010, as announced by the Bank of England. Representing thelargest net injection of equity on record, this was well up on the in the third quarter with a net repayment of £6.6bn of 2010, as well as the £6.2bn realized in the first quarter.

The outstanding reason behind the trend for repaying mortgage debt is brought by the homeowners who are using extra money taken from lower mortgage interest payments. With this, they will be able to reduce the balance they owe on their houses. Immensely low savings rates attract more people to use spare cash to reduce the amount of their existing mortgages.

For most of the homeowners, the tight credit conditions have also made it harder for them to withdraw their housing equity. “The record figures highlight the strong desire and perceived need of many people to improve their personal balance sheets given high debt levels and serious concerns and uncertainties over the economic situation” says Howard Archer, chief European and UK economist at IHS Global Insight.

On the other hand, despite the desire of these homeowners to improve their balance sheets, there are still a number of people who keeps on paying for unfair bank charges due to mis sold mortgages. If you are one of these people then good to know that somebody is willing to give a hand in going through the process of reclaiming for your mis sold mortages. Bankcharges.com has been in service for long years helping people who are drowning in debts due to unfair bank charges caused by the misleading information given by their agents.

According to the Bank survey, a balance of 11% of lenders declared that mortgage defaults rose unexpectedly in the first three months of 2011, as opposed to their assumption that it will continually lay flat. The rise came about despite the Bank’s base rate being held at record low of 0.5%. The lenders have warmed that a rise in interest rates can possibly increase more the default levels.

A mortgage default refers to the situation in which a person no longer makes a payment on his or her mortgage. Taken into consideration that the loan is considered to be “in default,” this suggests that the agency which holds the note can choose to take over the property of the borrower who was unable to pay for his dues. Defaulting on a mortgage should be avoided since it can result in the loss of a piece of real estate. It will significantly affect the credit score then it makes it a lot more difficult to negotiate with the bank or  even to secure credit for other possible loans in the future.

The balance of banks that expect an increase in defaults over the next three months increased for about 14.3%. This has been noted to be the highest level for more than a year. “The findings of the survey confirm the difficult circumstances facing the UK economy in the first quarter of the year and the pressures facing businesses, especially smaller firms” said David Kern, chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce.

Mis sold mortgages could also lead to mortgage defaults since hidden subsidies are placed without you knowing it. If you assume that you have been mis sold mortgage then Bankcharges.com is ever willing and able to reclaim you mis sold mortgage and unfair bank charges in no time.