Which? responds to FCA warning to insurers to offer fair value and good outcomes

Rocio Concha, Which? Director of Policy and Advocacy, said:

"The FCA has found that insurance firms are failing to prove they are providing good outcomes and value for their customers. This follows Which? research that has consistently uncovered that some insurers are letting down their customers - whether it's prolonging the ordeal of making a claim or charging eye-watering levels of interest to pay for cover monthly. 

"We've found some insurers have made the claims process a nightmare for consumers, from customers feeling harassed for difficult to obtain information about seriously ill family members to claimants living in mould-ridden houses for months as their claim dragged on.

"A number of car and home insurers continue to charge customers who can't afford to pay for cover in one go annually excessive levels of interest, which could end up adding hundreds of pounds onto the final bill. The regulator has long acknowledged that this is a 'tax on being poor' and must urgently publish an action plan to set out how it will force firms that do this to stop it and give consumers fair value.

"Good standards of customer service didn't begin with the Consumer Duty. Insurers have been bound to regulatory requirements for years. If the Consumer Duty is to be worth the paper it's written on, the FCA must be prepared to take tough and decisive action against firms across the industry that fall short."

-ENDS-