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My gripe for the day would have to be the extortionate commission taken my brokers for insurance and sorting out mortgages. We went to a broker in the hopes of decreasing our monthly outgoings as I had to give up my job due to ill health. He was very charming and made all the right noises but heavens I was shocked to find out how much they really get. Just for sitting at our dining table and sorting out the mortgage (maybe an hours work) he gets nearly £600 in commission. For sorting out one insurance policy he gets £623 and we have taken out three insurance policies. Is this legal?
Why haven't the insurance ombudsman tackled this? This surely is basically legalised stealing? Our hands are tied and we are the ones who ultimately pay. I will never go through a broker again. In fact he has turned out to be pretty useless as promises to advise us when things were to be completed never materialised. We've had to do all the chasing.
I think we the public should do something about this. AND, I suspect the banks are just as bad. It is no wonder they want to sell you their products. We, the consumers, and our families are suffering.
Banks advertising on the television really annoy me more than anything at the moment. Again, its all us downtrodden consumers that are paying for this. I don't want banks to advertise. Why? because it costs a fortune and they rake it back in charges. I don't want them to telephone me at home pressuring me to have a loan or take out some silly insurance policy or credit card that I don't need. If I want a loan I will go to the bank and make an appointment. I don't know these strangers at the end of a phone - who are they? How dare they disturb me in my home at inconvenient times? I don't want them to contact me. That's why we have the yellow pages and the Internet.
Banks can blame their collapse to negligence. They have not done their budgeting correctly and the people in charge of running these establishments get paid a lot of money to manage and yet they don't. We have lived in a greedy culture and now we're paying for it.
So greedy brokers, greedy banks and cold calling are my gripes today. Why not give benefits to the people who need it and stop fattening the fat cats? Banks should not advertise if I could pass one law then this would be the one. Gripe over...
By: Sharmie
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Mate, most of us can't even afford to pay into a Pension so be grateful.
http://snipurl.com/veahu
I have £180000 saved for my pension. It is not growing fast enough. The state has robbed me of its value.
Invest in a safe.
To some, this may seem extreme. To me it's common sense. Granted, there is no interest accruing but least you know where you money is at all times and guaranteed it's not been 'played with' over the Markets.
I know this is loosely related to the gripe, but I thought it was quite applicable considering the charges this broker made just by offering his clients a policy which is standard to his Company anyway.
How can the banks justify this. Having spoken to Lloyds TSB they deny that it has been received by them. I then spoke to Wells Fargo who say it left them and is with the recipient bank and has been since 4 Jan. Who is telling the truth? who can you speak to to find out? It is just a click of a button these days and saying 3 days is outrageous but this long is just pure theft. The exchange rate has changed and therefore even less money will now arrive in my account! Do I have any redress to the bank? Answer NO. Can I claim for the difference in exchange rates between wire being sent and wire being received? Answer NO.
This is wholly unacceptable behaviour and we the public have no way of a)tracking the transfer (yet many small parcel companies manage to do this) and no way of knowing who is hanging onto my money and profitting from it. and b) no-one to complain to. On the slim chance that the money I transferred might appear today, I asked them at what time the transfers are received. They said midnight. Then I asked, is that considered to be today or tomorrow? Of course, it was tomorrow and so the £12 penalty fee applies regardless!
Now more than ever I'm convinced that the bankers are just sitting in their offices laughing at us, sure in the knowledge that there's nothing we can do; for they have all the power and we have none.
Most people are no good with their accounts and banks realise this. Banks need to make money and lots of it. Get people into debt, tie their homes to it and get a big bonus.
The amount of commission he took is a lot of money, but ultimately, you chose to use his services. I'm sure the broker didn't put a gun to your head and force you to sign a contract.
I agree that the banks in the UK charge extortionate fees, which is why I no longer use a mainstream bank in England, and I also set up another account overseas.
I'd like to add that 'Scumbusting' made some good points in his post. It is so true that "They love cheap and nasty, quality-less overpricing". The poor services that we receive in the UK would not be accepted by people in most other countries.
Most of the money owed is Interest - Interest rates set by finance organisations backed by the governent.
This pathetic government is penalising children, families, students. I am so ashamed of being British.
We, the taxpayers have just bailed out the banks to the tune of billions opon billions of £££ssss
Surely there will be riots or anarchy one day if this sort of thing carries on?
Banks seem to me to be generally crooks, liars and cheats. They could have given us a far more accurate quote than they did for this transaction. They declined to do this. This is the taxi-journey way of doing business where you simply don't know how much the journey will cost till you have completed it. Taxi-drivers are generally a bad lot the world over, so too are banks.
Nick
They feed on other people's plight, end of.