Consumer affairs

Fake reviews and 'drip pricing' – where you're shown an initial price for a product, but more fees are later added – have now been banned. The competition regulator's powers have also been beefed up in a bid to better protect consumers.

The regulator has announced a final deadline of 29 August 2019 for consumers to reclaim mis-sold PPI. If you think you've been mis-sold you can reclaim for free, but don't delay – the reclaim system is likely to get jammed up now a final deadline's in place, so get ahead of the queue.

A parliamentary petition calling for an end to cold callers selling pensions and investments has been backed by almost 3,000 people so far - and MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis has urged as many people to sign it as possible.

Economy Energy is being investigated by Ofgem amid fears its marketing and telesales practices could have broken the rules.

Introducing rival firms to the water market could have "financial and service benefits," save customers around £8 a year and allow them to switch providers, regulator Ofwat has argued.

The Financial Conduct Authority has today published its consultation paper on plans to bring in a 2018 deadline for PPI claims – and revealed that 18 firms which received the most PPI complaints will be asked to cough up £42 million to fund an ad campaign promoting the deadline.

HSBC has set aside an additional £353 million to pay for payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling claims, the bank announced today.

The RBS Group is putting aside a further £100 million to cover compensation payouts for customers mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI), it was announced today.

Barclays has set aside an extra £170 million to cover payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling claims, the bank has revealed in its financial figures today.

Over 4,000 British Gas customers have received compensation after British Gas admitted mis-selling energy over a two-year period in supermarkets and in a west London shopping centre.