Welcome to the Money blog, Sky News’ personal finance and consumer hub. Today, we attempt to get some money back for a reader left with a big bill after an airport parking mistake. Plus: Britons’ favourite European city breaks and why car insurers are having to pay out £200m.
Tuesday 23 September 2025 16:45, UK
A super-complaint has been launched by Which? over its concerns about “serious failings” in the home and travel insurance markets. 
The complaint has been filed with the City regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, due to the “poor levels of customer service and outcomes” in the industry. 
Quick recap – what is a super complaint? 
A super-complaint is a complaint submitted by a consumer body on behalf of large numbers of customers, where it believes that their interests are being significantly harmed by practices in a market.
Only certain organisations have legal powers to make super-complaints as consumer bodies.
The consumer champion said it’s focusing on home and travel insurance because they have some of the lowest levels of claims acceptance rates, and the impact on a consumer when something goes wrong can be significant.
Which? said it has heard from hundreds of people “who have been left to endure ordeals at the hands of their insurers”.
It said it found little evidence that the FCA has taken “meaningful action to address the many persistent problems that exist in these markets”. 
Rocio Concha, Which? director of policy and advocacy, said the complaint was a “major intervention” but necessary to fix the “serious failings” in the industry. 
“We have heard heartbreaking stories from people who have found the experience of dealing with an insurance company worse than the distressing life events that led to their claim,” she said. 
“It’s time for the FCA to get a grip on the home and travel insurance markets and urgently intervene to make sure insurers up their game. This super-complaint should mark a turning point that leads to fundamental changes in how insurance companies treat their customers.” 
By law, the FCA has 90 days to respond to the super-complaint.
Which?’s last super-complaint was submitted in 2016 over its concerns about banks’ treatment of victims of authorised push payment fraud. 
While initially rejected by the Payment Systems Regulator, legislation was later introduced to protect bank transfer fraud victims by introducing mandatory reimbursement.
An FCA spokesperson said: “Insurance should provide peace of mind and fair value. That’s why we have been focused on raising standards, including banning the loyalty penalty, securing £200m compensation for underpaid motor claims and investigating value in premium finance.
“We uncovered issues when we recently reviewed insurers’ home and travel claims handling. We’ll be holding them and their senior managers accountable for the changes needed.
“We’ll respond to Which? in due course.”
If your car was written off or stolen, you may be due compensation from insurers.
They’ve underpaid around 270,000 motorists making claims, according to the Financial Conduct Authority.
The firms made deductions for “assumed” pre-existing damage, even without evidence.
This breached fairness rules by stopping drivers from affording replacements. 
Around £200m is expected to be paid out in total – you’ll be contacted if you’re in line for some of it.
Some 150,000 people have already received redress, with £71m left to be handed out by early 2026.
If you’re due compensation, your insurer will contact you, but as always, beware scammers sending suspicious emails or texts.
You can earn £75 cashback when you spend £300 or more on a hotel stay using an American Express card. 
The deal, which runs under the Amex Stays offer, applies to visits booked between now and 16 November at one of the 51 qualifying hotels. 
To claim the deal, go to the Amex Offers in your app or online banking and save Amex Stays to your card.  
Use your card at one of the participating locations, and the cashback should be credited to your account within 30 days.
The offer applies to pre-paid bookings, as well as payments made at a hotel checkout. 
Some of the hotels taking part include: 
You can check the full list of hotels and terms and conditions here. 
Homebuyers in London face an average premium of £42,700 for houses near stations, according to a new report by Nationwide Building Society.
The highest prices in the capital are charged near stations with access to the London Underground’s Circle line (£729,000), while the average price around Elizabeth line stations rank lowest (£401,000).
A property located 1,000m away from a station comes with a 3.5% premium, at 750m this increases to 5.6%, while a property 500m from a station costs around an 8% more (around £42,700 based on average prices in London), the study found. 
The research compared prices for properties 500 metres from a station with those 1,500 metres away across London, Glasgow and Manchester. 
While premiums apply in the latter two cities as well, they are much lower than in London, at £8,800 and £10,900, respectively.
Overall, however, the premium has fallen somewhat across all three cities, compared to Nationwide’s previous research in 2021. 
Londoners also appear to care significantly more about access to rail links – more than 80% of respondents in the capital said being near a station was very or fairly important to them. 
The same applied to some 60% of Mancunians and Glaswegians. 
“This is likely to reflect that those living in London typically use their local station more often,” said Nationwide’s senior economist, Andrew Harvey.
A total of 60% of Londoners said they use either rail or Tube more than once a week, while this was true for 35% in Manchester and 37% in Glasgow.
Santander UK has launched a new current account, offering up to £20 cashback per month as well as interest through a linked savings account.
The Santander Edge Explorer offers perks such as worldwide family travel and mobile phone insurance, UK and European breakdown cover and “24/7” remote access to a GP in the UK.
But bear in mind, customers must pay a monthly fee of £17 to maintain the account.
The account comes with:
Rachel Springall, finance expert at Moneyfactscompare.co.uk, said for some people it may be more cost-effective to open an account with a bundle of incentives.
But she warned: “It is essential customers take time to pick which benefits would be most valuable to them.”
She said that people should also check levels of protection when weighing up whether products are right for their needs.
“As an alternative, the Nationwide FlexPlus offers a comprehensive package of insurance add-ons and is currently paying switchers £175.”
Nationwide’s FlexPlus account offers perks including worldwide travel insurance, mobile phone insurance, vehicle breakdown cover in the UK and the rest of Europe and access to other Nationwide products, for £18 per month.
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Amazon is being sued in the US over whether it tricked customers into signing up for its Prime service and made it too difficult to cancel.
The Federal Trade Commission alleges the retail giant has made more than a decade of legal violations, including a law designed to ensure people know what they’re being charged for online.
Jury selection began yesterday, with opening statements to follow this week.
Amazon says it clearly explains Prime’s terms before charging customers and it offers simple ways to cancel membership, including by phone, online and by online chat.
“Occasional customer frustrations and mistakes are inevitable – especially for a program as popular as Amazon Prime,” Amazon said in a trial brief filed last week. 
“Evidence that a small percentage of customers misunderstood Prime enrolment or cancellation does not prove that Amazon violated the law.”
But the FTC says Amazon deliberately made it difficult for customers to purchase an item without also subscribing to Prime.
Some consumers were presented with a button to complete their transactions which didn’t clearly state it would also enrol them in Prime, the agency said.
“Amazon has long known that millions of its customers struggled with enrolment and cancellation of its subscription service, Prime,” the FTC said in its trial brief. 
Ending the subscription requires customers to affirm their desire to cancel on three pages.
A man has demanded a refund from Nationwide after paying an escort’s personal finances to help her leave the industry, only to discover she hadn’t.
In a case that tests the limits of what is deemed a romance scam, the dispute between “Mr W” and Nationwide reached the desk of the Financial Services Ombudsman.
Mr W said he had been “taken advantage of” and was suffering from health conditions that made him vulnerable, but the ombudsman ruled it was a private dispute between him and the escort, not a scam.
In a story reminiscent of the 1990s classic Pretty Woman, the man first hired the escort in January 2023 and, after meeting several times, agreed to her request to fund her lifestyle in exchange for her quitting the industry, the ombudsman’s report read.
“Mr W later discovered she’d not given up the escort work. He confronted her and asked for his money back. But she said there was nothing left,” the ombudsman wrote.
“I’m very sorry to hear about what’s happened to Mr W and I don’t doubt the impact the relationship with the escort has had on him, whether that be financially, emotionally or mentally. But I can’t say that Nationwide ought to be the party to repay any loss Mr W may have suffered.”
Despite disputing the claim, Nationwide did offer Mr W £50 compensation for incorrectly directing him to the FSO rather than registering and investigating a complaint itself first.
What is a romance scam?
Romance scams involve a criminal duping someone into sending them money by convincing them they are in a genuine relationship.
Requests for cash are often highly emotive, like medical emergencies or transport costs.
By James Sillars, business and economics reporter
Tech stocks are continuing to power US markets to record highs.
Nvidia rose 4% yesterday on the back of a $100bn partnership with OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT, to build massive data centres and new AI infrastructure.
Values elsewhere are not looking as strong, given projections of a global economic slowdown.
The FTSE 100 was up 0.2% at the open at 9,246 – building on the 0.1% gain on Monday.
Leading the winners was Kingfisher, the European parent firm of B&Q and Screwfix.
Its shares were more than 15% higher after it reported a 10% rise in first-half profits.
The surge in value can be attributed to an upgrade in its guidance for the rest of its financial year.
Kingfisher said the profit increase was largely driven by a strong performance in the UK.
That helped other retail stocks gain some momentum.
Energy firms were among the strugglers on the back of falling wholesale prices.
Brent crude is stuck well below $70 a barrel over fears that supply is exceeding demand in the US trade war-hit global economy.
Krakow in Poland is the best European city to visit, according to a new Which? survey. 
Scoring highly for its food, drink, accommodation and transport, the holiday destination was given an impressive 92% rating. 
It was the only city in the survey of more than 1,600 people that scored full marks for its value for money, with data from booking site Kayak showing accommodation costs an average of £86 a night. 
Following closely behind was Venice in Italy, with a score of 90%. 
The city was awarded five stars for its accommodation and cultural sights and attractions, but it scored just one star for crowds and two stars for value for money. 
A one-night stay would cost £132 on average.
Tied in third place with a score of 89% were Valencia in Spain and Vienna, the Austrian capital. 
Although not short of visitors, Cologne and Dublin were the lowest scoring city destinations, receiving a score of 69%. 
Amsterdam also struggled with 73%.
“Whether you are looking for culture, art, history or top gastronomy, there are several European cities that deliver. Book ahead and choose to visit off season to secure the best prices,” Naomi Leach, deputy editor of Which? Travel, said. 
“British holidaymakers who look beyond the most famous destinations, can find great value for money in foodie escapes, such as Krakow and Valencia. Despite the crowds, classic city breaks Venice and Vienna scored highly with visitors due to their unparalleled cultural attractions.” 
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