I think the FSA is better than nothing. I could provide my usual laundry list of reasons why I think it does a poor job even now but a reasonably competent job of promoting itself as tough but I will simply cite my view that the financial services industry is a predator and the customer, the prey. A little test with savings: look at any financial services website and see if you can find all the information in front of you to make a decision... then see if you can even find it before you click on the "apply now" button where you may be fortunate enough to find the t&cs, then wonder why on their logic you are obliged to "apply now" before you know what you're applying now for. Then phone up an institution three times with a crucial query and thrill to the probably two or even three different answers. Or you could email, so you've got something in writing. If you get a response it may well be answering a question you didn't ask.

My firmly held view is that the financial services sector is similar, in principal, to the used car market but the former is better regulated.

A mortgage lender has been fined by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for mistreating customers who fell behind with their payments, and ordered to repay millions of pounds.

GMAC-RFC has to pay a penalty of £2.8million, as well as returning £7.7million plus interest to borrowers.

The FSA says the company sought to repossess homes without looking at all the alternatives.

It also reports the lender had levied “excessive and unfair” charges against customers in arrears, charges that were far beyond the admin costs.

Furthermore, the FSA states GMAC-RFC had failed to consider customers’ individual circumstances when proposing repayment plans and insufficiently trained its staff.

Margaret Cole, director of enforcement and financial crime, claims this is “credible deterrence in action”, adding: “It is an excellent example of what the FSA’s more intrusive approach can achieve for consumers.”

A GMAC-RFC spokesperson commented: “We want to apologise to customers affected… While our arrears charges were in line with the market, in hindsight we fully accept that for certain fees our estimates of the costs were not proportionate to the additional administration actually required.”

What do you think? Is the FSA doing enough to clamp down on unfair treatment of customers? Have you been affected by GMAC-RFC’s “unfair” charges?