Emma RadmoreA mystery shopping exercise by the FCA found one third of experiences with basic bank accounts do not meet its expectations. Nine banks and building societies must by law offer these accounts to people who may not be able to access standard accounts, but the FCA found the providers are not consistently offering the accounts to the appropriate customers – often not mentioning their availability at all and trying to encourage the customers into unsuitable accounts.
The institutions have now agreed individual improvement plans and have committed to provide the right account to customers, first time and with clear communication and minimal friction and also to make it easy for customers who do not have standard ID or a fixed address to open an account. They have also agreed to improve on early identification of vulnerability and offer alternatives to on-line customer journeys.
According to the survey, less than one third of experiences were good or very good.