For many years now, the UK financial industry has been dominated by the mass of Independent Financial advisers. These are the people who show us where to put our money, when to cash it in and what to do with it. But are they really independent?
It seems that everyday we open the newspapers we see an issue with someone receiving a bad service, or over charged for some reason. While much of the cause for complaint can often fall on the financial sector, it seems that in general the UK public either don’t want to, or don’t know how to complain. The facts are that unless we complain when we have a valid reason, many issues will never be resolved, and they will happen time and time again.
One of the main downsides to the internet revolution is the lack of personal contact with third parties whom you may be dealing with. While many would argue that this has it plus points (which it does), it has also opened up the internet - and most importantly customers - to fraudulent activity. Many internet frauds have been active for months before actually being noticed, and it takes even longer to alert customers and close the sites down.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have taken the very unusual step of warning the public about a massive increase in the number of frauds pertaining to be from HMRC. Currently there are at least 8 known fraudulent emails doing the rounds, using a selection of false claims to attempt to obtain vital personal information.
While we are all aware that interest rates have been, and continue to, move upwards, it seems that this is offering the financial community a chance to recoup some of their losses from elsewhere. There are reports in the press that some Banks have been increasing savings rates in line with base rate changes, but increasing loan rates by more than base rate changes.
So is this really a big deal?
It has been reported that the Ombudsman for Estate Agents received a massive 8,000 complaints in 2006, up by over one third on the numbers for 2005. While this has risen in line with the buoyant property market, there are concerns that it may only be the tip of the iceberg.
