The FCA have reported that of 18,700 businesses invited to have their cases reviewed, a total of 3,700 (20%) have not yet replied. There is a deadline o
n this for cases to be included.
Both the banks and the FCA are puzzled as to why a business wouldn’t ask for their case to be reviewed. However out in the world of the recipients, several things are going on:
- There remains a degree of cynicism about the integrity of the exercise and whether the banks are just ‘going through the motions’. The fact that many of the ‘independent case reviewers’ are actually retired bankers from the same organisation seems to have got some bad press and affected people’s perceptions.
- To have your case included involves some work in presenting your case. Work = Time, Time = Money. Many business owners would choose to put their limited energies into getting on with their business (with more certain results).
- Presentation of the facts, with compelling arguments, takes some knowledge and skill on this subject which not everyone has (it’s why the problem has occurred in the first place!)
- Many borrowers see the SWAP contracts for what they were intended to be: insurance against interest rates moving up and they just haven’t yet (and if your house doesn’t burn down you don’t claim that you were mis-sold your house insurance policy)
- Record keeping might not have been that good on the part of the borrower – so they feel they don’t have the facts to properly present.
- There is a bit of “I shouldn’t have signed that SWAP and I kick myself for doing so, but let’s move on”
Having had some independent experience of the review process now, I am impressed with the ‘diligence’ involved. It remains to be seen how many cheques the banks are going to be writing out in compensation but they have reported to the FCA that they have paid out £158m to 1,,000 businesses – so cases are starting to come out of the other end.
The message is that if you have received the invitation letter from the bank and it has gone into your ‘too difficult/lets think about it’ tray, pick it out again and if necessary get some help in dealing with what is an important matter.