Packaged bank accounts

People come to us when they:

• believe they were mis-sold their packaged bank account
• are unhappy with an insurance product attached to their packaged bank account.

For complaints about insurance product attached to the account, please see our guidance for businesses on insurance.

Customers may complain the account was mis-sold because they:

• weren’t given a choice between a packaged account and one that doesn’t charge fees
• didn’t know how much the account would cost or what the add-on features would be
• couldn’t use one of the account’s features
• didn’t want or need some of the features that came with the account because they already had them
• didn’t realise they were opening a packaged bank account
• were told by the bank that they had to open the account to get another product or service – such as an overdraft, credit card or loan.

When we look at complaints about packaged bank accounts, we use the regulatory and legal standards that applied at the time of the event the customer is complaining about.

You’ll find rules, guidance and good practice in the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) Thematic review of packaged bank accounts.

Rules in the Insurance Conduct of Business Sourcebook (ICOBS) outline your obligations for:

• checking a customer’s eligibility for the insurance policies that are included in a packaged bank account
• informing the customer about their eligibility, and
• recording the eligibility assessment.

We only look at complaints you’ve had an opportunity to deal with first. If your customer is unhappy with your decision – or you don't respond to them within the time limits – they can come to us. 

Each case is different, so what we require will vary. But we’ll look at the facts and evidence from both you and your customer. What we consider will usually include:

• relevant laws, rules and regulations, guidance, standards and codes of practice that were in place when the event happened, including the Consumer Duty
• whether your customer was given a choice about having the account
• what they were told about its features and how much the account would cost 
• the terms and conditions of the account in question.

If you recommended the account, we’ll want to see you made sure it was right for your customer. This means that we’ll need to understand what their personal and financial circumstances were like at the time.

We may also ask you additional questions or for specific information, for example, to explore whether your firm complied with the Consumer Duty.

We follow the FCA’s dispute resolution rules (DISP) and will take into account how you’ve tried to sort things out.

If we uphold a consumer’s complaint, we’ll tell you what you need to do to put things right. We may also ask you to compensate them for any distress or inconvenience they’ve experienced as a result of the problem.

How we handle complaints

Businesses and consumer advisers can contact our Business Support Hub on 020 7964 1400 for information on how we might look at a particular complaint, or for guidance on our rules and how we work.

We also work with businesses and other organisations to help prevent complaints.