What is mis-selling?

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) (formerly known as the ‘Financial Services Authority’ (FSA)), the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), consumer groups such as the Consumers’ Association, and the media are increasingly focusing their attention on the mis-selling of financial products. The combination of falling stock markets, decreased returns on investment and growing public awareness of mis-selling issues has led to a notable increase in both the number of mis-selling complaints and the breadth of products to which such complaints relate.

Mis-selling can occur in a number of ways. Put simply, mis-selling means that a financial services provider has mislead a customer about a product, either in terms of its suitability for that customer, or certain characteristics of the product. Sometimes, a service provider can misrepresent a product to a customer by giving false or misleading claims about a product.

Commonly, customers will have been given poor advice on the product they are signing up to, been given incorrect information about a product, been sold a product they could not afford or been subject to charges which they were not aware of.