New disclosure of banks’ service standards should give consumers all the information they need to make an informed switch

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today published final rules which will require providers of personal current accounts and business current accounts to publish information that will help customers to compare the service they could receive from different providers. 

Under the new rules, customers will be able to find:

• How and when services and helplines are available
• Contact details for help, including for 24 hour helplines
• How long it will take to open a current account
• How long it will take to have a debit card replaced
• How often the firm has had to report major operational and security incidents
• The level of complaints made against the firm

Georgie Frost, consumer advocate at GoCompare, comments on the new rules:

“This is good news for consumers, many of whom don't switch because they think all banks and bank accounts are much of a muchness and there’s no point moving. Now we can check our banks for the things that matter, especially their performance when something goes wrong like when you have a complaint, or your card gets stolen or lost and you need a new one quickly.

 “This information, combined with a full comparison of the best accounts to suit your actual usage using GoCompare, the only price comparison website to offer the personalised ‘midata’ service, should arm consumers with all the information they need to make a well-informed choice.

 “Hopefully this will also encourage those banks who have taken their customers for granted for too long, to sort themselves out and push up standards across the board.”

 You can find more information on midata and GoCompare’s personalised current account comparison service here: http://www.gocompare.com/current-accounts/midata/

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For further information please contact:

Anders Nilsson or Martyn John at GoCompare on 01633 654 054 / 01633 654 725

Gordon, Jason or Liz at MAW Communications on 01603 505 845

Notes to editors:

GoCompare is a comparison website that enables people to compare the costs and features of a wide variety of insurance policies, financial products and energy tariffs.

GoCompare does not charge people to use its services, and it does not accept advertising or sponsored listings, so all product comparisons are unbiased. GoCompare makes its money through fees paid by the providers of products that appear on its various comparison services when a customer buys through the site.

GoCompare does not sell its customers’ data.

When it launched in 2006, it was the first comparison site to focus on displaying policy details rather than just listing prices, with the aim of helping people to make better-informed decisions when buying their insurance. GoCompare has remained dedicated to helping people choose the most appropriate products rather than just the cheapest, and has teamed up with Defaqto, the independent financial researcher, to integrate additional policy information into a number of its insurance comparison services. This allows people to compare up to an extra 30 features of cover.

GoCompare is the only comparison website to be invited to join the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

For more information visit www.gocompare.com and www.gocomparegroup.com