Professional negligence claims could make financial product providers 'more responsible'

Published on 14 Jun 2010 under category: legal

Customers of financial products need to become more responsible until there is tougher regulation in the industry, claims one industry expert.

Professional negligence claims can arise if consumers are failed by sellers of financial products.

A recent report by Which? Magazine found that there were several products on the market that were unlikely to give a return for the amount they cost every month.

It included secured loans, which were described as "risky", and debt management plans.

Commenting on the findings, Jo Ganly, senior PR manager at uSwitch.com, said that consumers had a responsibility to make sure they understand what they are signing up to.

"The key thing for any consumer is to understand what they already have, understand what they need and then find out the best and most cost effective ways of filling the gaps."

"Biggest bug bears are packaged accounts sold to customers who clearly have no need for the 'benefits' and expensive PPI sold individually on credit cards, store cards and loans when a consumer could do better with an income protection policy," she added.

Packaged accounts also ranked in Which's list of useless financial products, though they have grown by 94 per cent over the past four years.

If you require advice on Professional Negligence please call us on +44 (0)20 7831 0101 and ask for Peter Mellett.