Has The Office Of Fair Trading’s Intervention Really Helped The Consumer?
While the Office Of Fair Trading (OFT) have always been championed as the consumers friend, it seems that their ongoing campaign to clean up the financial industry is back firing in spectacular style. Recent research has shown that the financial conglomerates are fighting back, at the expense of the consumer.
The OFT have highlighted a number of major issues over the last two years including :-
· Unreasonable interest rates on some credit cards.
· “Illegal†banking and credit card charges.
· The many unannounced changes in mortgage exit fees.
These are just the tip of the iceberg as the battle between the OFT and the financial industry continues to heat up, with added tension on both sides. As usual the consumer is stuck in the middle, and while the OFT have effectively saved the consumer potentially billions of pounds in illegal charges, etc, the banks are fighting back by :-
· Increasing interest rates on credit cards.
· Alerting the public that the days of free banking are coming to a close.
· Being particularly unhelpful where clients are looking to claim back “illegal†fees from years gone by.
As you will probably have noticed, the once common offers of “0% Interest on Balance Transfers†are now disappearing from the credit card market, as basic interest rates are moved higher.Â
The banks have now decided to play hard ball in their quest to legitimately replace the lost millions they are set to lose from future charge changes, and consumer compensation claims. As well as customers, they also have shareholders to answer to, and the shareholders are not too impressed at the prospect of funding billions of pounds in claims, as well as losing future income.
While there are currently no signs of an end to the battle between the OFT and financial companies, they will find a balance in the not too distant future. How much the consumer will have to pay for this repositioning is unclear, but there will be a cost.
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