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Home » The banking problem

The banking problem

1
A flawed system
From investment banks to your high street branch, sales targets and bonuses have been driving the system. It’s no good for customers or stability.
 
Instead of chasing short-term profits, banks must be run responsibly so they’re stable in the long run and taxpayer money is never again needed to bail them out.

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2
Dodgy products
Too many of the products our banks try to sell us just aren’t good enough.
 

We want to get rid of nasty surprises in the ’small print’ – banks must give us good value products that are easy to understand, do what we need and that are actually right for us, not just good for their targets.

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3
Sales over service
If we go to the bank to pay in a cheque, don’t try to sell us a loan. Stop selling to us all the time. We want customer service, not sales people.
 
And complaints should be handled swiftly and fairly - not delayed and rejected first time as a matter of course. Customers should be able to trust their bank and expect to be treated fairly.

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Enough is enough

The banks have been getting away with it for too long - giving customers a bad deal, and making money from dodgy products.

 

Of course, in the last year it’s all gone wrong. Over £120 billion of taxpayer money has gone into the banking system to keep it afloat. They messed up, and we had to bail them out, but not much has improved.

 

A general election is coming up early next year - now is the perfect time to make it clear that whoever wants to be elected must listen: get tough on the banks and change banking to help ordinary people.

 

We just want banks to give us a fair deal, and there’s never been a better opportunity to do that.

 

Britain needs better banks. And you can help make it happen!
It’s been over a year since the government bailed the banks out, but what’s actually changed for consumers ? Despite some banks being almost entirely state owned, it seems the answer is very little.
 
We still have the same old problems – poor value products, confusing small print, troubles with customer service and complaints handling, commission driven sales and mis-selling.
 
And we don’t want to go back to a bonus culture which rewards short-term gain - at a time when the long-term security of these businesses is more important than ever. The financial crisis has shown that the system is broken. It’s time Britain had better banks.
 
A general election is coming and we’re still suffering from the financial crisis - this is our chance to really change banking for the better. We can send a clear message to all the political parties that banking reform is a priority for consumers.
 

Better banking for customers

 
So what will better banking for customers look like? It’s pretty simple really, and like any good service, it relies on giving the customer what they need, and being open about it.
We want all the banks to agree to:
  1. - Only sell you products you can afford, you need and understand
     
  2. - Try to give you the best deals you can get, not just the deal they are promoting at that time
     
  3. - Stop commission driven sales and instead reward staff for good customer service
     
  4. - Get rid of products with nasty surprises and confusing small print
     
  5. - And above all, to compete with each other and innovate to win your custom
 

A better banking system

 
Better banking is also safer banking. Nobody wants to see a repeat of the financial crisis so the system needs to change to prevent the same mistakes being made.
 
We want banks to focus on long-term growth, not the sort of quick and easy profits that led to the credit crunch. The financial regulator must play its part too by hitting the banks who do break the rules with higher financial fines.
 
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