Regulations

Story: FCA Targets Claims Firms as Consumers Face Misleading Ads and Unfair Fees

By Bruce Buterin

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What Regulators Found So Far. Different regulatory approaches and firm behaviors are getting examined to see if proper…

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Lead Generators and Marketing Under Review. Lead generators play a big role in identifying potential customers.

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What Happens Next. The FCA and SRA will keep intervening to address misleading practices.

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The Financial Conduct Authority started a broad review of the claims management market. Consumer failures are piling up.

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The watchdog wants to dig into what's causing these problems. People get signed up without really knowing what they agreed to. Social media ads are often murky.

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Different regulatory approaches and firm behaviors are getting examined to see if proper permissions are in place. The FCA wants full cooperation from everyone involved.

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The SRA oversees about 9,000 law firms in England and Wales. As of late April, it had 109 ongoing investigations into high-volume consumer claims.

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The regulatory taskforce that started in March is taking real steps on motor finance claims. Three CMCs cut unreasonable fees, which protected over 500,000 consumers.

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Lead generators play a big role in identifying potential customers. They pass details to other businesses for a fee.

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The FCA's review will look at whether current price caps remain appropriate. Free-to-use redress mechanisms are available to consumers in some cases.

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See also: FCA Hits Banned Broker Shaun Lawrence with Fresh Charges Over Unlicensed Mortgage Work

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The joint taskforce established in March already led to consumer protection measures. Removing or amending over 800 misleading advertisements was just the start.

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Social media ads are a particular problem. They're often unclear or downright misleading. Consumers see an ad, click through, and end up signed up for something they didn't fully…

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The SRA's 109 open investigations as of April 30 involve 76 firms handling high-volume consumer claims. That's a substantial chunk of the market under investigation.

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Conflicts of interest are a big worry. Fee structures might push firms to act in ways that don't serve consumers well.

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