Citizens Advice: FCA should make providers responsible for expensive SVRs

Morgan Wild, senior policy researcher from Citizens Advice, said the onus should be placed on providers not to overcharge their customers, rather than on customers to switch.

Citizens Advice: FCA should make providers responsible for expensive SVRs

The Citizens Advice Bureau is disappointed at the lack of action by the Financial Conduct Authority to prevent customers from being charged expensive Standard Variable Rates for failing to switch.

Morgan Wild, senior policy researcher from Citizens Advice, said the onus should be placed on providers not to overcharge their customers, rather than on customers to switch.

He said: “We’ve been urging the FCA to put more responsibility on providers to make sure that they are offering their customer a good deal, rather than taking the opportunity to put them on the worst deal they have available.

“That’s something that’s often missing from this conversation, too often all the onus is put on the consumer.

“These are firms who have a responsibility to treat customers fairly and we have been so far disappointed by the lack of regulatory action to point that point across, to really examine what they are doing to improve outcomes for loyal customers.”

Wild was speaking at a Trussle-hosted reception in Parliament yesterday.

Trussle is calling for a ‘Mortgage Switch Guarantee’ to make switching fairer, which will force lenders to display the true cost of a mortgage, allow borrowers to access key information digitally, and contact borrowers three months before the end of their initial term