Packaged bank accounts

Packaged bank accounts are a type of current account that comes with additional features. These features may include travel insurance, breakdown cover for vehicles and mobile phone insurance. There may also be banking benefits – like preferential overdrafts or loan rates.

Packaged bank accounts might have a name such as a ‘Gold’ or ‘Reward’. You are usually asked to pay an additional fee, for example a set amount each month, for this type of account.

On this page you'll find information about complaints involving the sale of a packaged bank account. You can find more detail about other issues with bank accounts on a separate page.

Consumers sometimes complain their bank mis-sold them a packaged bank account because they:

• weren't given a choice between a packaged account and a free one
• weren't aware of how much the account would cost or what features would be available
• were unable to use one of the account’s features
• didn't want or need some of the features that came with the account because they already had these things separately
• didn’t know they were opening a packaged bank account
• were told by the bank that they had to open this type of account so they could get another product or service – like an overdraft, credit card or loan

Talk to your bank first so they have the chance to put things right. They need to give you their final response within 8 weeks for most types of complaint. If you're unhappy with their response, or if they don't respond, let us know. We'll check whether your complaint is something we can deal with, and if it is, we'll investigate. 

Find out more about our process and how to complain.

If you complain to us about a problem with a packaged bank account, we'll consider: 

• the law, rules and regulations in place at the time 
• good industry practice at the time
• the terms and conditions of your account

Once we've checked that your complaint is something we can deal with, we'll ask both sides to provide evidence to help us understand what's happened. If your bank recommended that account, we'll look to see if it made sure that this type of account was right for you. This means that we'll need to understand what your personal and financial circumstances were like at the time.  

For complaints about packaged bank accounts, we'll look at how the bank sold the account to you. This may include looking at:

• how the account was sold
• whether you were given a fair choice and if relevant, offered free alternatives
• whether the account features were clearly explained
• whether you were told how much the account would cost
• whether the account as a whole could have been useful for you at that time

Over time the features of packaged bank accounts may change, as benefits are added or removed, and people's circumstances may change over time. So when we look at complaints about accounts being mis-sold we'll look at the account benefits and your circumstances when it was sold to you, and whether the account was the right for you. 

If the basis of your complaint is that you haven’t used all the features of the account, it's unlikely that we'll say that the bank was wrong to sell the account to you. But if you didn't want, couldn't use, or didn't need, any of the account's features, we may say that it wasn't right for you. 

We have been working with banks for many years to help them understand and identify where accounts may have been mis-sold so they can put things right without our involvement. 

If we find you’ve been treated unfairly, we’ll ask the business to put things right. This usually involves putting you back into the position you’d be in if the things your complaint is about hadn’t happened. This could mean refunding the account fees, although the bank will be allowed to deduct any savings you made from what it has to pay you, like savings on overdraft charges because you had the account.

If you're a business looking for information to help you resolve complaints, find out more in our detailed information about handling complaints about packaged bank accounts.