DAN HYDE: It's time to end the switching con... we shouldn't have to shop around every year to get a fair deal

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For years we've been told competition will, eventually, fix everything that's wrong with banks, insurers and energy and mobile giants. Well, it simply isn't true.

I'm not sure how many times Money Mail has to warn about the way our loyalty is exploited by big firms for regulators and the Government to realise, at best, they've been guilty of wishful thinking.

Sensible householders don't want to have to shop around every year to avoid overpaying on their insurance or savings account. 

Stressful: Sensible householders don't want to have to shop around every year to avoid overpaying on their insurance or savings account

Frankly, we've got better things to do with our time. Is it so much to ask to be treated fairly and even be rewarded for showing loyalty?

The good news is that a powerful consumer body has, at last, spelled out this vitally important message to the City regulator.

Sue Lewis, chair of the Financial Services Consumer Panel (which advises the Financial Conduct Authority regulator on how to protect the likes of you and me), is absolutely right to call the competition argument 'fiction' and urge for 'tough action' to stop financial firms abusing our trust.

Nobody is suggesting a crackdown on firms that do right by their customers while making a fair profit. 

But on vital products such home insurance and bank accounts, the FCA must realise that one thing motivates firms above all others: raking in the most money at the least cost.

So until the watchdog lays down stricter ground rules, the rip-offs will continue.

While we campaign for action on car hire scams, insurance renewals, credit card sales, pension charges and broadband bills, Money Mail will keep telling you to switch your accounts regularly. 

  SEARCH FOR CHEAPER CAR INSURANCE IN MINUTES          

This is not because it'll magically quash the rip-offs, but because you owe it to yourself to ditch cruddy firms for the few that do play fair.

When you get a moment this summer, start by finding better home insurance, then move on to car cover, followed by any broadband and TV contracts.

Read our roundup of the best broadband deals here. 

I'd wait until the autumn to search for a new bank account as all the big guns are currently updating their charges.

Then, as the winter approaches, lock into a cheap energy tariff.

What would help us is to hear which firms you'd recommend to other readers. You are Money Mail's eyes and ears — and we rely on your valuable insights to print the best money tips every week.

Isa madness

Nationwide should really know better than billing a customer £1,259 for accidentally closing his Isa account 16 days early.

It was obvious 72-year-old John Thornton intended to transfer his cash to Yorkshire BS at the end of the four-year term, rather than a few days before it matured.

Yet Nationwide imposed the early closure penalty — equal to 320 days of interest — anyway and didn't even bother to tell him!

Most upsetting was the thoughtless rejection letter in response to John's legitimate complaint.

It shouldn't take Money Mail's intervention to get a company that's supposedly run for members to act in their best interests.

The FCA should clean up this mess immediately. If Nationwide's hitting customers with unfair charges, you can bet savers are being stung when they transfer Isas at other providers.

Peer's support

Thank you Baroness Ros Altmann for championing Money Mail's pensions fight in the Lords.

We want every saver locked into the annual payouts on pension annuities to have the right to cash in the pot for a lump sum. Insurers and the Government are making this difficult at the moment, which is unfair as everyone else is now free to cash in after age 55.

Baroness Altmann spotted that the Government was trying to airbrush legislation that entitles savers to impartial guidance if, one day, they can cash in their annuities. These rules were introduced before the Government U-turned on letting pensioners have their cash last October.

Baroness Altmann has tabled an amendment to the Financial Guidance Bill to keep the rules in place. Rest assured, we won't give up until justice is done.

d.hyde@dailymail.co.uk