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October 13, 2015 
Daniel Lee Another new mis-selling scandal for the banks, especially the Lloyds Banking Group to deal with could be hitting very soon. This scandal centres on interest rate protection products which are more commonly known as swaps.
It’s said that this scandal could be a “bigger problem” for the banks than the payment protection insurance (PPI) scandal which has so far seen them pay out billions of pounds.
The Independent conducted this investigation into yet another mis-selling scandal and it could easily derail the Government’s plans to return the entire Lloyds Banking Group to private ownership before the general election.
The investigation into the potential liabilities of the British banks incurred from the mis-selling of interest rate protection products which, as we mentioned earlier are more commonly known as swaps, has found that the pay-outs could match, if not be more than that of the PPI scandal which hit the country around 2008 and has so far cost around £22billion.
The investigation also found that Lloyds’ exposure in this scandal could cost them an estimated £5bn and it could also hit other UK banks in a similar way.
Lloyds aren’t the only bank that could be hit hard by this. There’s a number of other banks like HSBC, Natwest, and the Royal Bank of Scotland to name but a few. It would seem that there’s no one in the banking word that is safe from these scandals these days.
Until now, the scale of the scandal has been limited to interest rate hedging products (IRHPs) which have been sold mainly to both small and medium-sized businesses.
There are clients which are considered to be more “sophisticated” than others, i.e. those with swaps valued above £10m or those companies who employ 50 or more staff. These are the companies who could possibly push the cost to the banks up from £5bn to quite a lot more.
The Independent, along with a number of analysts in the City who can’t be named or identified for legal reasons, examined a number of high value claims which were excluded from the Financial Conduct Authority’s recent review of mis-selling.
Speaking on the findings, one analyst said: “This is potentially a bigger problem for UK banks than PPI. Profits from PPI sales somewhat offset the £22bn the banks were forced to pay out in compensation. But profits on swap derivatives could be dwarfed by high settlement costs.”
None of this looks very good for the banks or the Government with the election fast approaching and with yet more money set to be paid out due to another mis-selling scandal this could really dent the current Government’s trust in the banks and also, the general public’s trust in the Government.
One other huge mis-selling scandal that is still going strong and has at least another £15 billion still to be claimed, is PPI. You could be owed money from the likes of Lloyds for their mis-selling of PPI so why not get in touch today and we’ll find out what you could be owed.
Interest Rate Hedging Scandal
December 11, 2014 Daniel Lee The Financial Ombudsman Service has now dealt with over one million complaints regarding Payment Protection Insurance.
What makes that statistic even more astonishing is that it’s estimated that 9 out of every 10 rejections by banks and lenders are not escalated to the FOS by customers.
With the FOS ruling that 70% of complaints are rejected unfairly over the course of time, this could mean that up to 6.3 MILLION valid PPI complaints have not been handled fairly or escalated to the FOS, which could have saved the banks a whopping £17 BILLION.
The Financial Ombudsman Service is an independent government body set up to handle complaints that cannot be satisfactorily resolved between a customer and a bank or lender.
It’s duty is to investigate complaints and reach a decision on whether banks have acted fairly, reasonably and in accordance with the regulatory rules.
It’s a simple case of financial benefit. As I mention earlier in this post, if it is saving the banks BILLIONS which it clearly is, then banks and lenders will continue to treat customers unfairly.
The risk of a penalty or fine from the Financial Conduct Authority is nothing compared to the BILLIONS saved due to customers not escalating unfairly rejected complaints.
The FCA’s biggest PPI fine to date is £7 million which is hardly a deterrent is it, when you could be saving 10 times, 100 times or even 1000 times that amount by rejecting valid complaints.
I’ve already called for banks and lenders to be fined each and every day that the FOS find over half of the complaints they receive have been rejected unfairly.
Unfortunately it’s clear that those who work for the bank regulators are far too close to those who work within the banks themselves.
Indeed, many switch between working for the banks and working for the regulator throughout their careers, so it’s not wise for them to upset potential future employers.
It’s therefore down to customers. DO NOT TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER.
Escalate your complaint to the FOS and allow them to investigate the complaint independently.
We as a nation of consumers need to ensure it is not financially viable for banks to treat their customers unfairly in order to financially benefit.
Choosing the right Claims Management Company can assist. Firstly, it needs to be a regulated company.
Your Money Claim is a regulated Claims Management Company that is used to dealing with, and beating, the banks tactics.
We will not let an unfair rejection stand in our way.
We will fight all the way in order to recover compensation for mis-sold PPI. We can safely say that if you’ve been mis-sold PPI, we will get your money back, plus interest.
If you’ve had a rejection from a bank or lender within the last 6 months don’t hesitate to contact us, there’s still a chance of claiming compensation.
PPI complaints
