Kitemarks on Financial Products

hatk1

Can anyone explain how the new kitemarks for financial products are going to help the consumer.
It appears that to have a kitemark on a savings account there should be no short term introductory bonus on the account.
I give an example of how this will not benefit the customer:
Before Xmas Marks and Spencer part of the HSBC Group were offering 2.75% on a variable rate cash ISA. Just after Xmas they closed the ISA to new customers and reduced the rate to 2.25% from March. They have now reduced the rate to 1.3% from May. a claasic example of attracting new money and then dramatically reducing the rate and a percentage of customers will stay with them. Cheshire Building Society part of Nationwide are offering a cash ISA saver at 2.5% with an introductory bonus included of 2% until July 2014.
Marks and Spencer would have been eligible for the kitemark under the proposed standard but Cheshire not eligible.
BUT which is the better product for the customer?

opinions4u

They used to do catmark on ISAs.

They were meaningless for many of the reasons you state.

Be seen to be doing something to hit the banks. While the country slowly dies due to inaction elsewhere.

dunstonh

Can anyone explain how the new kitemarks for financial products are going to help the consumer.

They will only help the lazy an/or those that don't have the ability or understanding. They wont be the best products. They will just meet a certain criteria that will be based on limiting options to keep it simple. That may help those groups but it wont help the majority.

All previous attempts at similar have failed because the margins were not enough to retail them and consumers soon realised that they were not the best products.

utigers

Unfortunately kitemarks will get sold as if somehow it makes the product a good one. They have been designed to make the product easy to understand and it ticks all the boxes etc.... marketing.