FCA brings in fee cap for claims management firms saving consumers almost £10m a year

Former_MSE_James_F

A cap on the fees claims management companies charge customers has been introduced by the financial services regulator today, which it says will leave some people £1,000s better off.  

Read the full story here:
'FCA brings in fee cap for claims management firms saving consumers almost £10m a year - here's what's happening'

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FeaturelessVoid

And again consumers don't have to take any responsibility for their actions so are free to be irresponsible, and the Government steps in to bail them out, rinse repeat until nobody has any freedom to do anything because everything has been managed away by the Government.

People need to be responsible for their own actions, making it "someone else's fault" is not helpful to anyone, although ML has earned a tidy packet doing just that.

[Deleted User]

FeaturelessVoid said:

And again consumers don't have to take any responsibility for their actions so are free to be irresponsible, and the Government steps in to bail them out, rinse repeat until nobody has any freedom to do anything because everything has been managed away by the Government.

People need to be responsible for their own actions, making it "someone else's fault" is not helpful to anyone, although ML has earned a tidy packet doing just that.

While I am no fan of the government, at the same time, this is a good thing. CMCs were charging ludicrous sums (even before the previous cap of 25%, some were up to 40-50%) for a minimum wage student/house wife to take down a few details on the phone and mail out generic template letters to all and sundry and hoping to get lucky. There was, at most a couple of hundred quid of work done by the CMC, yet were getting thousands of pounds from any refund - the cap is quite right.

That said, ML should be shouting from the roof tops at every chance he gets, that you never need to use a CMC for any sort of complaint

dunstonh

The uncapped fee led to two outcomes
1) genuinely gullible or vulnerable people being missold again and again and again.
2) an increase in spurious or try-it-on complaints where no wrongdoing had taken place but a scattergun complaint may have got lucky on a technicality or it was cheaper to settle the complaint than to argue it.

So, capping is a good idea.

MSE should have made more effort to tell people not to use a CMC when making a complaint.  Especially when the FOS themselves have said that CMCs have a lower success rate than personalised complaints made by the individual.

FeaturelessVoid

Deleted_User said:

FeaturelessVoid said:

And again consumers don't have to take any responsibility for their actions so are free to be irresponsible, and the Government steps in to bail them out, rinse repeat until nobody has any freedom to do anything because everything has been managed away by the Government.

People need to be responsible for their own actions, making it "someone else's fault" is not helpful to anyone, although ML has earned a tidy packet doing just that.

While I am no fan of the government, at the same time, this is a good thing. CMCs were charging ludicrous sums (even before the previous cap of 25%, some were up to 40-50%) for a minimum wage student/house wife to take down a few details on the phone and mail out generic template letters to all and sundry and hoping to get lucky. There was, at most a couple of hundred quid of work done by the CMC, yet were getting thousands of pounds from any refund - the cap is quite right.

That said, ML should be shouting from the roof tops at every chance he gets, that you never need to use a CMC for any sort of complaint

No. The Government stepping in, again, sends the message that you can be reckless and you'll be bailed out by the authorities.

So what happens when you're not, or what happens when you don't have any freedoms because every part of your life is controlled the Governbemnt. You might think this is conspiracy theory stuff but, well, look at COVID and people being restricted to their homes, not allowed to leave unless they have a good reason and we laughed in early 2020 when the Chinese Government was locking people in their apartment blocks in Wuhan.

These shysters are not "good" but we can't protect everyone against every scam. Part of life is learning from our mistakes. We can't learn from our mistakes if we're not allowed to make them.

Alpine_Star

FeaturelessVoid said:

Deleted_User said:

FeaturelessVoid said:

And again consumers don't have to take any responsibility for their actions so are free to be irresponsible, and the Government steps in to bail them out, rinse repeat until nobody has any freedom to do anything because everything has been managed away by the Government.

People need to be responsible for their own actions, making it "someone else's fault" is not helpful to anyone, although ML has earned a tidy packet doing just that.

While I am no fan of the government, at the same time, this is a good thing. CMCs were charging ludicrous sums (even before the previous cap of 25%, some were up to 40-50%) for a minimum wage student/house wife to take down a few details on the phone and mail out generic template letters to all and sundry and hoping to get lucky. There was, at most a couple of hundred quid of work done by the CMC, yet were getting thousands of pounds from any refund - the cap is quite right.

That said, ML should be shouting from the roof tops at every chance he gets, that you never need to use a CMC for any sort of complaint

No. The Government stepping in, again, sends the message that you can be reckless and you'll be bailed out by the authorities.

So what happens when you're not, or what happens when you don't have any freedoms because every part of your life is controlled the Governbemnt. You might think this is conspiracy theory stuff but, well, look at COVID and people being restricted to their homes, not allowed to leave unless they have a good reason and we laughed in early 2020 when the Chinese Government was locking people in their apartment blocks in Wuhan.

These shysters are not "good" but we can't protect everyone against every scam. Part of life is learning from our mistakes. We can't learn from our mistakes if we're not allowed to make them.

If you believe that this is ''The Government stepping in'' then you do not have an appropriate appreciation of how financial regulation works. The decision for this cap was made entirely by the FCA who, although given powers to make rules by Parliament, made this rule under it's own powers and without any Government involvement whatsoever. 

To compare this to emergency public health legislation imposed by the Government is laughable.

 

kaMelo

I suppose the irony is that this new fee cap structure actually means an increase in fees charged by CMC's for any settled claims less than £20,833.34 as opposed to the flat 20% plus VAT no matter what the value of settlement.

Alpine_Star

kaMelo said:

I suppose the irony is that this new fee cap structure actually means an increase in fees charged by CMC's for any settled claims less than £20,833.34 as opposed to the flat 20% plus VAT no matter what the value of settlement.

I think you've misunderstood. 

The flat rate 20% cap only applied to PPI claims, which are unaffected by this new cap which is for other types of claims.

So there is no such increase.

[Deleted User]

FeaturelessVoid said:

Deleted_User said:

FeaturelessVoid said:

And again consumers don't have to take any responsibility for their actions so are free to be irresponsible, and the Government steps in to bail them out, rinse repeat until nobody has any freedom to do anything because everything has been managed away by the Government.

People need to be responsible for their own actions, making it "someone else's fault" is not helpful to anyone, although ML has earned a tidy packet doing just that.

While I am no fan of the government, at the same time, this is a good thing. CMCs were charging ludicrous sums (even before the previous cap of 25%, some were up to 40-50%) for a minimum wage student/house wife to take down a few details on the phone and mail out generic template letters to all and sundry and hoping to get lucky. There was, at most a couple of hundred quid of work done by the CMC, yet were getting thousands of pounds from any refund - the cap is quite right.

That said, ML should be shouting from the roof tops at every chance he gets, that you never need to use a CMC for any sort of complaint

No. The Government stepping in, again, sends the message that you can be reckless and you'll be bailed out by the authorities.

So what happens when you're not, or what happens when you don't have any freedoms because every part of your life is controlled the Governbemnt. You might think this is conspiracy theory stuff but, well, look at COVID and people being restricted to their homes, not allowed to leave unless they have a good reason and we laughed in early 2020 when the Chinese Government was locking people in their apartment blocks in Wuhan.

These shysters are not "good" but we can't protect everyone against every scam. Part of life is learning from our mistakes. We can't learn from our mistakes if we're not allowed to make them.

Libertarianism lasts until the second you need medical care, the police, fire service etc etc