Unused packaged account perks cost Brits millions

Britons waste up to £137 million each year on the cost of packaged accounts offering travel insurance, according to Engage Mutual, which has just launched its new low cost travel insurance offer to help Brits beat high street banks’ charges.

Following criticism of high street banks for selling customers unnecessary ‘free’ extras including travel insurance as part of expensive packaged accounts, calculations by Engage show that the difference between paying for packaged bank accounts and shopping around for low cost travel insurance could save holidaymakers an average of £30 a year, with some saving up to £270.

Karl Elliott, Marketing Director of Engage Mutual said “Packaged account holders are paying a high cost for cross-sold financial products, which many of them never use. In launching our new low-cost travel insurance, Engage Mutual is offering our customers a simple product which, with a little financial planning, could save them money.

“The money they save could even mean that they are able to afford to go spend a little longer in duty-free!”

Key Figures:

one in nine of the UK's forty million current account holders pay a monthly fee for packaged accounts, costing an average of £10.04 a month, or £120.48 a year

51% of these packaged accounts include travel insurance, but 64% of these packaged account holders say they never use the travel insurance on offer

23% of packaged account holders don’t use any of the “free” perks on offer