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Packaged current accounts include a range of additional services – such as insurance policies, better deals on savings accounts or loans, and other perks like ticket discounts. These can cost up to £25 a month.
Under new rules we are introducing, from 31 March 2013, if you take out a packaged account your bank or building societies must:
Five steps to packaged protection
Packaged accounts can be useful for some people but not everyone will get enough benefit from them to justify the monthly cost.
But there are steps you can take before you sign up to a packaged account to see whether it suits your circumstances.
Step 1: Consider whether you will use each of the benefits included in the package account or already have them elsewhere.
Step 2: Check with your bank or building society to ensure you will be eligible to claim on any insurance policies that are part of the account.
Step 3: Compare the yearly cost of a packaged account against the price you would pay to individually buy each of the benefits you expect to use.
Step 4: Make sure you are aware whether you need to activate benefits or register your details before the cover kicks in.
Step 5: Consider whether your circumstances have changed in case you will no longer be eligible to claim on an insurance policy included in the packaged account.
http://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/fina...account-market
Under new rules we are introducing, from 31 March 2013, if you take out a packaged account your bank or building societies must:
- check you would be eligible to make a claim under each policy in your account and share that information with you;
- give you an annual statement, explaining how to claim each of the benefits included in your packaged account. You should check whether your circumstances have changed and whether the insurance policies continue to suit your needs; and
- ensure the advisers who recommend packaged accounts check whether each policy is suitable and tell you if some are not.
Five steps to packaged protection
Packaged accounts can be useful for some people but not everyone will get enough benefit from them to justify the monthly cost.
But there are steps you can take before you sign up to a packaged account to see whether it suits your circumstances.
Step 1: Consider whether you will use each of the benefits included in the package account or already have them elsewhere.
Step 2: Check with your bank or building society to ensure you will be eligible to claim on any insurance policies that are part of the account.
Step 3: Compare the yearly cost of a packaged account against the price you would pay to individually buy each of the benefits you expect to use.
Step 4: Make sure you are aware whether you need to activate benefits or register your details before the cover kicks in.
Step 5: Consider whether your circumstances have changed in case you will no longer be eligible to claim on an insurance policy included in the packaged account.
http://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/fina...account-market
