Tesco Bank to pay thousands of car insurance customers refunds after wide-spread policy error

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Thousands of Tesco Bank customers will be entitled to a refund after the lender told them their no claims bonus protection for motor insurance would be around £1.2 million cheaper collectively than it actually was.

In writing to 124,451 customers between April 2020 and September last year, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said that Tesco Bank misled them into thinking their policies would be £10 cheaper than reality.

The CMA said that the bank will now explain the situation to customers, who can choose to keep the policy or get a refund.No claims bonus protection is additional cover drivers can purchase which protects their no claims discount in the event of an accident."This error meant that motorists were unable to make a fully informed decision as to whether they wanted no claims bonus protection," the CMA said."Had they been told the right price, they may have decided to cancel their no claims bonus protection or switch to another, cheaper provider."Thanks to our action, Tesco customers will now have the chance to decide whether they want to keep their current protection or get their money back."It said that Tesco Bank had failed to "clearly, prominently and accurately" displace the additional cost of a no claims bonus protection.This meant that customers did not understand the value in removing the protection from their deal.Tesco Bank reported the problems to the CMA itself.The bank said: "We apologise for this error, which we have now fixed."All existing customers who were impacted have been contacted with the option of a refund and the removal of their no claims bonus protection."However, the overwhelming majority of customers are choosing to retain their protection.