The FSA launches new Shop Around web pages for consumers

Now you can get advice on how to shop around for the best deal in financial products as well, with the help of the FSAs new Shop Around web pages. They give clear, impartial and reliable information about how to find the best deal when looking for a pension, mortgage, ISA, unit trust or other financial product.

And you dont have to traipse around your local High Street either. Just click on our website at www.fsa.gov.uk/consumer for handy tips on how to decide which is the best type of product for you, and the questions you need to ask before signing on the dotted line.

Head of Consumer Education at the FSA, Deborah Arnott, said:

We dont usually buy the first item we come across when were shopping for Christmas presents.

Yet too often we do precisely that when it comes to buying long term and sometimes costly financial products, like mortgages and pensions. By shopping around and asking a few key questions, consumers can reduce the risk of ending up with an unsuitable product which could prove costly in the future.

Our new Shop Around web pages explain clearly the main features of different types of product, and set out some of the important questions consumers should ask before making their decision. After all, you can usually take a Christmas present back to the shop in the New Year if you find you dont like it. Although you often get a cooling-off period, its not so easy to do that with a mortgage or a pension.

Financial products and services covered by the Shop Around pages include:

Current accounts; savings accounts; loans and credit; National Savings; Insurance; Mortgages; Home Income Plans/Equity Release Schemes; Pensions; ISAs; Shares; Unit Trusts, Open Ended Investment Companies (OEICs); Investment trusts and exchange traded funds; and gilts and corporate bonds.

Notes for editors

1. The FSA regulates the financial services industry and has four objectives under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000: maintaining market confidence; promoting public understanding of the financial system; the protection of consumers; and fighting financial crime.

2. The FSA aims to maintain efficient, orderly and clean financial markets and help retail consumers achieve a fair deal.