Tweet
BCOBS does not apply to overdrafts or unfair charges.
Evening all,
I make no apologies for this post, but I admit to having plaigirised a fair amount of it!
However I only heard about this yesterday and feel it may be very important for all of us, so here it is:
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
JANUARY 2011
BCOB - Are ‘BCOBS’ the rules that nobody wants you to know about?
After some examination, the ‘Banking:Conduct of Business Regulations’ make it illegal for your bank to treat you unfairly.
This legislation also gives you the right to sue them in the county court if they do.
The regulatory process, which is meant to be on the side of consumers, has produced a set of rules which is intended to protect consumers, BUT the same regulatory process seems to be very reluctant to let us know about them.
This is is the conclusion that one is faced with when one examines the new ‘Banking: Conduct of Business Regulations.’ which are contained in the FSA Handbook.
It is wrong to say that these regulations are new, as they are over two years old.
They were introduced to replace The Banking Code of Practice -- a discredited so-called voluntary code which the banks like to parade around and which the Financial Ombudsman seem to take very little interest in and have made very little use of, or so it seems.
It is no coincidence that the Banking Code of Practice, used by the banks to legitimate and validate their appallingly bad treatment of their own customers, was very widely publicised by them, BUT the ‘Banking: Conduct of Business Regulations’ which could be a powerful weapon in the hands of an aggrieved customer, appears to be hidden away by the Banking industry without any reason, but more importantly this is possibly a ‘passive’ act of deception by the Banks – trying to ensure the Consumer does not ‘discover’ their existence. A last desperate act of Goliath against David perhaps?
The power of BCOB lies in the fact that it creates very general obligations to treat customers fairly -- and also that it gives individual customers the right to sue their banks in the County Court when, considering the BCOB Regs, the Bank have acted unfairly towards you.
This is definitely not something your Bank wants you to know. I suggest calling into your local branch and asking them about these ‘BCOB Regulations’, or indeed asking if they can supply you with a copy.
The FSA have not referred to your direct right to sue in the courts in its Know Your Rights Guide. It merely says that you should either write to your bank or else go to the Ombudsman. Have they hidden it? That it something to ponder as the FSA certainly have not made efforts to draw attention to the BCOB Regs.
The British Banking Association has produced an Industry Guide on their website. It is not a consumer guide. It's a guide for the industry, but it's written in clear enough language so that ordinary consumers could understand it as well. As a Consumer Guide -- it'll do.
However it does not tell the truth about the BCOB rules and about the ways in which banks should act fairly as it doesn't tell the whole story. In a way, the BBA Industry Guide is more limited than the Code but tends to follow the same path so that it could be guilty of giving the impression that it is just another version of the Banking Code.
The BBA guide tries to give itself some authority by including BCOB source material in its original form after its plain English version.
Of course, the BBA acts in the interests of Banks. It does not act in the interests of consumers. So it is not surprising that they appear to not want consumers to know all about BCOB.
However this is an Industry Guide. Why don’t they want to explain to their own members exactly what they have been saddled with by the FSA?
Is there some type of avoidance activity which ensures the Consumer is not fully in the picture as far as the rights which the Law bestows upon the Consumer by the controls it places on the Banks?
It could appear that the reason that the BBA wants to publish a dumbed down version of the BCOB requirements on its publicly accessible website is because it is fullyl aware that Consumers will be ‘eavesdropping’ on its site and may form the opinion "well if this is what the BBA is telling its own members about BCOB, then it must be true."
I am deeply worried by the fact that the BBA has not pointed out to its industry members that under these new FSA regulations, the Customer has a private right of action.
The FSA has produced a consumer-facing guide because the FSA is there to protect our interests and the FSA has also produced the BCOB regulations they must be proud of their work and want consumers to know.
However the FSA guide is a Janet-and-John explanation of some of the effects of the new BCOB regulations and fails completely to give any idea of the breadth of the BCOB provisions.
If you read the FSA guide, you could end up thinking that they had explained the entire package and that there was nothing else to consider.
The most damming point is that the FSA omits to point out that individual customers are entitled to take their own court actions against offending banks rather than have to wait an eternity for the FOS to get a move on.
The FSA mentions your right to take court action in a guide called How to Complain - but they suggest Court action as a last resort.
The banks are so seriously abusive of the Ombudsman process – [and the Ombudsman is so under-resourced], that a recommendation for Court action is an early option. To be clear this should be the case but it has been found that to be very effective if properly organised and approached.
The last few words on this are : Do you think that's all there is? Do you think that consumers are getting a proper deal under the new fairness obligations?
These two are the ones to read:
BBA Industry Guide to BCOBS
FSA Guide to BCOBS
Best wishes
Dougal
Evening all,
I make no apologies for this post, but I admit to having plaigirised a fair amount of it!
However I only heard about this yesterday and feel it may be very important for all of us, so here it is:
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
JANUARY 2011
BCOB - Are ‘BCOBS’ the rules that nobody wants you to know about?
After some examination, the ‘Banking:Conduct of Business Regulations’ make it illegal for your bank to treat you unfairly.
This legislation also gives you the right to sue them in the county court if they do.
The regulatory process, which is meant to be on the side of consumers, has produced a set of rules which is intended to protect consumers, BUT the same regulatory process seems to be very reluctant to let us know about them.
This is is the conclusion that one is faced with when one examines the new ‘Banking: Conduct of Business Regulations.’ which are contained in the FSA Handbook.
It is wrong to say that these regulations are new, as they are over two years old.
They were introduced to replace The Banking Code of Practice -- a discredited so-called voluntary code which the banks like to parade around and which the Financial Ombudsman seem to take very little interest in and have made very little use of, or so it seems.
It is no coincidence that the Banking Code of Practice, used by the banks to legitimate and validate their appallingly bad treatment of their own customers, was very widely publicised by them, BUT the ‘Banking: Conduct of Business Regulations’ which could be a powerful weapon in the hands of an aggrieved customer, appears to be hidden away by the Banking industry without any reason, but more importantly this is possibly a ‘passive’ act of deception by the Banks – trying to ensure the Consumer does not ‘discover’ their existence. A last desperate act of Goliath against David perhaps?
The power of BCOB lies in the fact that it creates very general obligations to treat customers fairly -- and also that it gives individual customers the right to sue their banks in the County Court when, considering the BCOB Regs, the Bank have acted unfairly towards you.
This is definitely not something your Bank wants you to know. I suggest calling into your local branch and asking them about these ‘BCOB Regulations’, or indeed asking if they can supply you with a copy.
The FSA have not referred to your direct right to sue in the courts in its Know Your Rights Guide. It merely says that you should either write to your bank or else go to the Ombudsman. Have they hidden it? That it something to ponder as the FSA certainly have not made efforts to draw attention to the BCOB Regs.
The British Banking Association has produced an Industry Guide on their website. It is not a consumer guide. It's a guide for the industry, but it's written in clear enough language so that ordinary consumers could understand it as well. As a Consumer Guide -- it'll do.
However it does not tell the truth about the BCOB rules and about the ways in which banks should act fairly as it doesn't tell the whole story. In a way, the BBA Industry Guide is more limited than the Code but tends to follow the same path so that it could be guilty of giving the impression that it is just another version of the Banking Code.
The BBA guide tries to give itself some authority by including BCOB source material in its original form after its plain English version.
Of course, the BBA acts in the interests of Banks. It does not act in the interests of consumers. So it is not surprising that they appear to not want consumers to know all about BCOB.
However this is an Industry Guide. Why don’t they want to explain to their own members exactly what they have been saddled with by the FSA?
Is there some type of avoidance activity which ensures the Consumer is not fully in the picture as far as the rights which the Law bestows upon the Consumer by the controls it places on the Banks?
It could appear that the reason that the BBA wants to publish a dumbed down version of the BCOB requirements on its publicly accessible website is because it is fullyl aware that Consumers will be ‘eavesdropping’ on its site and may form the opinion "well if this is what the BBA is telling its own members about BCOB, then it must be true."
I am deeply worried by the fact that the BBA has not pointed out to its industry members that under these new FSA regulations, the Customer has a private right of action.
The FSA has produced a consumer-facing guide because the FSA is there to protect our interests and the FSA has also produced the BCOB regulations they must be proud of their work and want consumers to know.
However the FSA guide is a Janet-and-John explanation of some of the effects of the new BCOB regulations and fails completely to give any idea of the breadth of the BCOB provisions.
If you read the FSA guide, you could end up thinking that they had explained the entire package and that there was nothing else to consider.
The most damming point is that the FSA omits to point out that individual customers are entitled to take their own court actions against offending banks rather than have to wait an eternity for the FOS to get a move on.
The FSA mentions your right to take court action in a guide called How to Complain - but they suggest Court action as a last resort.
The banks are so seriously abusive of the Ombudsman process – [and the Ombudsman is so under-resourced], that a recommendation for Court action is an early option. To be clear this should be the case but it has been found that to be very effective if properly organised and approached.
The last few words on this are : Do you think that's all there is? Do you think that consumers are getting a proper deal under the new fairness obligations?
These two are the ones to read:
BBA Industry Guide to BCOBS
FSA Guide to BCOBS
Best wishes
Dougal
Comment