All Articles in Financial services

The Consumer Credit Act 1974 regulates consumer credit agreements and ads for loans up to £25,000. New CCA credit ad rules come into force on 31 October 2004 and the…

With mortgage and insurance ads soon coming within its regulatory remit, the FSA has recently come out with a slew of measures and announcements. We report and try to differentiate…

After fifteen years of continuous brick-bats aimed at the 1989 rules, new consumer credit advertisement regulations are coming in October 2004. They demand urgent attention, but are they an improvement?…

In an OFT-commissioned survey, nearly 2000 credit card users were quizzed. Small print in ads got the thumbs down, whilst a summary box of key facts got the thumbs up.…

More and more, UK consumers are taking out one loan to pay off multiple loans. But is the advertising for these services complying with the current regulations? A recent OFT…

The Financial Services Authority recently reported on another six months of enforcement work, tackling misleading ads for financial products.   Topic: Financial services Who: The Financial Services Authority Where: London When: February 2004 What happened: The Financial Services Authority…

Last month we reported a £165,000 FSA fine for misleading financial promotions. Now a still higher fine has been meted out, this time for allegedly misleading ‘pension unlocking’ product ads…

This time the penalty was £165,000 for 2,000,000 newspaper inserts and 236,000 mailings misleadingly promoting high income and precipice bonds.   Topic: Financial services Who: The Financial Services Authority and Chase de Vere…

The Government has just published its consultation paper on radical reforms to the UK’s consumer credit laws. The proposals include scrapping the much-criticised credit ad regulations, but will the suggested…

The Financial Services Authority is due to start regulating most mortgage advertising and selling on 31st October 2004. We report on the new “Mortgage Conduct and Business Rules” and helpful…

In an effort to placate the Commons Treasury select committee in advance of the DTI’s much threatened ‘radical review’ of UK consumer credit laws, UK credit card providers have come…

When Marks & Spencer Financial Services mailed 2.6 million of its storecard holders with a replacement credit card, it thought it was well within legal controls on posting ‘credit tokens’.…