In our update paper, we took the view that market-wide interventions were not necessary but committed to looking more closely at higher-priced products.
Overall, we’ve found that the cost of paying for insurance monthly has fallen significantly since the Consumer Duty was introduced. We’ve challenged some firms to better explain how they’ve considered all aspects of fair value and, if necessary, to explain what changes they would be making to their processes or their products.
Most providers, but not all, charge interest when allowing monthly payment for insurance. We found that for both ‘with-interest’ and 0% APR models, firms incur similar costs when offering monthly payments. We also found that both models can offer fair value.
Our report explains why we think a price cap or a ban on with-interest models would not be proportionate.
Next steps
Throughout this market study, we’ve sought to address poor consumer outcomes directly, without needing to make new rules.
Where necessary, however, we’ll pursue stronger supervisory action to address concerns around the provision of fair value.
We'll continue to monitor prices in the premium finance market. Where any further competition issues arise because of our monitoring, we'll use our supervisory and other regulatory tools to address any poor practices.