Paul Lothian(Money Marketing, December 12, 2002) is spot-on – some consumers will claim they were misled regarding low-cost endowment risks recommended by the Consumers' Association rather than follow the original CA guidance to increase premiums.
The FSA, far from encouraging honest intermediaries, supports cheating consumers.
Its predecessors told me a decade ago that filling up endless reams of paper was more important than helping clients faced with repossession. The prototype bureaucrat, Eccles, on the Goon Show, said he knew the time, he had it written on a piece of paper.
Today's Goons are not so funny, they threaten liberty, the future of financial services, press freedom and economic success.
Compensation culture is the outcome of giving the FSA judicial powers so that fraudulent claimants avoid interrogation before a district judge. Claims are made against insurers one stop away from bankruptcy which imperils savings and pensions. The money is either paid out of the savings of others or by higher premiums such as the critical-illness cover hike.
Manufacturing is in steep decline. The overseas payment gap is partially closed by financial services. Why not just saw off the branch you are sitting on?
Someone has to kill the compensation culture before all consumers suffer.
New year resolutions? First, help the CA return to unbiased research. Second, press for the least bureaucratic replacement to take over the FSA after Davies. Third, find a unifying industry leader to lead a campaign against “costless” compensation and to reduce FSA powers. Fourth, don't let the blighters get you down and come out fighting for a great 2003.
Roy Bennett
Hackbridge, Surrey
