So, you’ve been invited in to your bank for a financial check-up. And it’s free! Great – but how impartial can it really be?
WE DON’T WANT to be mean (that’s a lie) but we can’t help raising a deeply sceptical eyebrow at the notion that Ireland’s banks are ramping up their financial advice to customers.
If you’re with Bank of Ireland, for example, you may have recently received a letter inviting you to contact your local branch to talk to someone “who’s qualified to give you expert advice”, while Irish Life is now offering chats with qualified advisers over the phone.
But should you really be taking counsel from an institution that you, as a tax payer, has had to bail-out to the tune of billions of euro? And regardless of the banks’ current difficulties, taking advice from someone who is typically trying to meet their sales targets is never a good idea – even if the service is free.
Personal injury lawyers are swallowing up 10p from every £1 spent by drivers on car insurance premiums.
The Association of British Insurers (AIB) revealed that the high legal costs for setting personal injury claims following road accidents are adding around £40 a year to the cost of car insurance.
AIB analysed more than 50,000 personal injury claims to compile the results, finding that legal fees were almost doubling the amount insurers had to pay out.
For average claims of £2,430, the AIB discovered that insurers were being forced to fork out for a further £2,100 in legal fees.
Overall, insurers are now paying an estimated £2.7 million a day to personal injury lawyers, which is around 10% of all car insurance premiums.
The study shows that the legal profession is benefiting to the tune of 87p for every £1 in compensation for claims valued below £5,000.
Nick Starling, the ABI's director of general insurance and health, said: "A compensation system that can deliver £2,000 of compensation at a cost of as much as £5,000 is dysfunctional.
"Excessive legal costs are a symptom of a civil litigation system that is broken and in urgent need of fixing."
