Hastings Insurance Services fined £753,000
July 30, 2008
Hastings Insurance Services Ltd, broker based in Bexhill-on-Sea, has been fined £753,000 for unfairly treating customers by cancelling motor insurance policies that they had sold too cheaply.
Around 4,500 deals were cancelled after the broker found that errors had given customers inaccurate quotes. The errors, which happened in June and July 2007, meant that customers were not paying enough for their insurance needs.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) said Hastings Insurance Services failed to consider other remedies.
Margaret Cole, director of enforcement at the FSA said “It is clear from our investigation that Hastings put its own interests ahead of those of its customers.”
She also said that Hastings had failed to consider the effect cancelling the policies would have on customers.
The broker uses the trading name of Hastings Direct.
The problems meant that some of the policies were on average £539 less than what they should have been.
The FSA said that some customers had been forced to take out new insurance policies at very short notice. Also in some cases customers were able to earn a no claims bonus for the time they were insured.
They also added that some customers could face difficulties getting another policy because they would have to declare they had had a policy cancelled.
Visit www.hastingsdirect.com for more information on their services.
Comments
Got something to say?
Advertisement