HSBC Fined 10m Over Miss-Selling Investment Bonds.

Within the last week or so, HSBC has been fined to a sum of over £10m because they miss-sold investment bonds, mainly to elderly people that are currently in care. It’s believed that close to 2,500 people were involved in this recent scandal, which has led to one of the biggest retail fines in the history of the UK. Although  HSBC has already received a fine of £10m+ they say that they will also pay an additional £30m in compensation for their mistakes. They’ve apologised to the people that were affected in this case, but it still doesn’t take away from the fact that they’ve ruined some people’s quality of life for a number of years.

All of the miss-sold investment bonds were sold from 2005 to last year (2010). Since the average age of the people who invested in these bonds is 80+, it’s not easy for everyone that’s involved to know that they were miss-sold investment bonds. In most cases, these type of investments last for 5 years or so, but because some of the people expected to live for less than 5 years they withdrew some of their money while they could. This meant that they were charged a lot to withdraw the money along with resulting in the person having very little of their investment still intact.

The main problem in these case was how staff of the company were miss-selling investment bonds and giving customers the wrong advice. A company, NHFA had over a 50% market share at the time and were involved with helping people decide how they could afford to look after themselves in the future. HSBC blames the NHFA for most of the problems, claiming that in or around 20 of their employees didn’t fully explain how HSBC related products work. Brian Robertson who is the Chief Executive of  HSBC bank recently said that he “fully accepts” how the NHFA made mistakes when giving advice to a lot of people, many of which are quite vulnerable. HSBC plan to get in touch with all the people who were affected in this mistake that they’ve made, so if you were or somebody that you know was affected by this you can expect to receive a call within the next week or so.

This whole case has made people’s opinion of HSBC dramatically fall, as well as the fact that they’ve announced to cut a few hundred jobs throughout the United Kingdom. Joe Garner, who is the head of the HSBC’s bank in the UK recently commented on these job losses and said that they want to “redeploy as many people” back to work in their bank. However, many people don’t believe this at all. One group who don’t believe this is their union Unite. They say that they’ve been told in the past that nearly 600 people will actually lose their jobs, which is close to double what HSBC first said!

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Billions set aside in compensation. Don`t miss out !

The decision to abandon their legal challenge paves the way for millions to share billions of pounds in compensation. The "big four" banks – Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and HSBC  revealed they face a combined bill of more than £5bn.

Banks and other companies will have to look back at past sales, even where people have not complained, and contact customers if necessary. However, the FSA has said a firm "will only have to act towards non-complainants if it finds recurring shortcomings in its own sales in the course of its own [investigations into its sales practices] ..." Some banks are likely to be better than others in pro-actively contacting people.

Everyone should check their documents. If you have PPI, and were told it was compulsory, if you were given employment cover but you were self-employed, or if you were not asked about pre-existing medical conditions, you are likely to be a victim.

Many people have been turning to Chargebackclaims for help demanding, and receiving, a full refund of premiums paid, plus interest. We take all the hassle out of claiming for our clients and take on board all the legal matters involved whilst dealing with the nasty banks on their behalf. The process is as easy as 1-2-3.
If you are interested in claiming back whats rightfully your then click here and you are on your way to potential £thousand`s you may be owed.

Virgin Money Buys Northern Rock

Northern Rock is being sold to Virgin Money for £747m.

The bank was nationalised in 2008 following its near collapse at the onset of the global credit crunch.

The government subsequently split the bank into two, Northern Rock plc, and Northern Rock Asset Management (NRAM), into which was placed its bad debt.

Northern Rock plc will be rebranded as Virgin Money, which has pledged no compulsory job cuts for three years.

The bank currently employs 2,500 people, down from 5,500 when it was nationalised.

Sources at Northern Rock said that there were cheers at the bank's Newcastle headquarters when the news of the Virgin Money deal was announced.

Taxpayer loss
The government said Northern Rock customers would see no change to their accounts and services and would not need to take any action.

Taxpayers have injected £1.4bn into Northern Rock plc.

He added that in addition to the immediate £747m the government will get back following the completion of the sale, there is the potential for the Treasury to receive a further £280m over the next few years.

"So on paper, taxpayers end up with a loss of somewhere between £400m and £650m,"

The size of the losses contained in the bad bank part of Northern Rock are still uncertain, but could amount to as much as £21bn. This will include the payments to customers who were mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance.

'Safeguards jobs'
Chancellor George Osborne said: "The sale of Northern Rock to Virgin Money is an important first step in getting the British taxpayer out of the business of owning banks.

"Don't forget that the enlarged Virgin Money will still be a minnow - less than a tenth of the size of the big banking beasts”

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"It represents value for money, will increase choice on the High Street for customers, and safeguards jobs in the North East."

The sale of Northern Rock plc is expected to be completed on 1 January 2012.

The government said it had no plans to sell Northern Rock Asset Management (NRAM).

Virgin Money has pledged to establish a new headquarters in Newcastle, where Northern Rock is based.

It also also agreed not to close any branches and instead to increase their number "as the business' growth allows", and support Northern Rock's charitable foundation for a year.

In addition to paying £747m on completion of the sale, the government said Virgin Money was "expected" to pay an additional £50m within six months, and then a further £150m.