Which?: NatWest not delivering on MoneySense promise

A Which? investigation has revealed that NatWest's MoneySense service doesn't always deliver the impartial advice it promises.

Just four out of 20 MoneySense sessions attended by Which? researchers provided the impartial information advertised, without any attempt either at or after the meeting to interest the customer in NatWest products.

Meanwhile, there were six visits in which the adviser spoke exclusively about NatWest products during the MoneySense session. In two of these visits there was no mention of shopping around.

In the other ten visits, the researcher was passed onto a customer service adviser, or the MoneySense adviser ended the session and went on to speak exclusively about NatWest products.

Consumer champion Which? stresses that, when it works well, the provision of an impartial service - along the lines of MoneySense - is invaluable. Which? research shows that the majority of consumers (70 per cent) have never spoken to a financial adviser, while two fifths (41 per cent) would consider taking advice from friends and family when buying a financial product.

A quarter of people said they would not seek advice from anyone when sorting out their pension, and almost half (48 per cent) would be most likely to seek mortgage advice from their bank.

Which? is calling on NatWest to revisit the marketing of MoneySense and compare it with what is actually happening in some branches, and advises consumers using the service to shop around before taking out any NatWest products following a MoneySense session.

The consumer champion also urges the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to use the evidence from this investigation to help develop its own Money Guidance service, currently being piloted in the North West.

Which? personal finance campaigns manager, Doug Taylor, says: "This would be an invaluable service if NatWest was always actually delivering on its promise of free, impartial financial guidance. However, it is being let down by the poor standard of at least some of the service being delivered."

"If schemes like this are really to benefit consumers, more must be done to ensure that advisers are properly trained to provide truly impartial financial guidance - at a time when it is needed most."