What one rule should banks stick to?

There are two things my bank loves to do: offer me a mortgage (I’ve already got one) and ask me why I didn’t get a mortgage with them (they wouldn’t give me the money).

Luckily they’ve stopped doing this on the phone, but it doesn’t stop the branch staff going for the hard sell.

It’s time to call the shots for World Consumer Rights Day

As the name suggests, World Consumer Rights Day is the day when consumers come together to show companies that their views are vital. Consumers International (the United Nations equivalent to consumer groups) sets the theme each year and this year it’s fair financial services.

To celebrate the day, we’re offering you the chance to tell us what you want from the banks. All you have to do to take part is follow Which? Action on Twitter and post your rule using the hashtag #bankrule. We’ll choose the five best rules and open it up to a public vote on 4 April 2011 to decide the winner.

Win an Amazon Kindle

We love a good competition here at Which?, but there is a point to us asking for your ideas – we’ll be using them when we present to the Consumers International World Congress in May.

If that isn’t enough motivation, there’s also a Kindle up for grabs. The rule with the greatest number of votes wins the Kindle!

To inspire you, I’ve asked my colleagues around the office what their rules would be. Here’s a selection:

• Financial Services Chief Advocate Doug Taylor said, ‘Bank staff should tell me what commission they get for a sale to me.’
• Financial Services advocate Lucy Widenka said, ‘Banks should give customers the best deals they can get, not just the deal they are promoting at that time.’
• Money Editor James Daley said, ‘All bank charges should be proportionate to the cost – and shouldn’t be used as a way of bolstering profits.’

We’d love you to share your ideas here, but please note, if you want to enter the competition you’ll also need to send us a tweet to register your entry.