Beware of the Small Print

The devil really is in the details when it comes to financial products, as we’ve yet again seen in the car insurance small print findings released by a consumer group this week. What do you need to know to avoid falling into the small print trap?

Small print are the terms and conditions of the agreement that you are signing up for. It’s all the technical stuff, and the reason they put it in small print is because it usually details the less attractive elements of the deal that you are about to sign up to.

That is why it’s small print – they literally make is as small as they are legally allowed to minimise any chance that these terms and conditions will turn off potential customers. So why is it a particular consumer issue at the moment?

Car Insurance: The Devils in the Details.

Consumer group website Fairer Finance has found this week that several car insurance deals boast word counts that number more than the entire word count for George Orwell’s grim allegorical novel Animal Farm.

The most alarmingly high word count was boasted by car insurer Endsleigh. According to the consumer group it totalled 37,674 words. Other providers of motor insurance that had word counts totalling over the 30,000 mark include Sheila’s Wheels, M&S Bank and Esure.

Founder of Fairer Finance, James Daley, summed up why this was so harmful to consumers. Daley said that "even those who do (read them) are struggling to understand them, (so) what exactly is the point of these documents?"

Avoid the Small Print Trap

Essentially, if small print is too long, people don’t read it. That’s why they’re making it so long in the first place. So how can you tackle this problem?

• Take time away to read it in full

• Ask for clarification on any points you don’t understand.

• Don’t let them pressure you into skim reading the small print.

• Research the company: If people are complaining about them, chances are you shouldn’t even bother considering dealing with them. 

Kiran Trivedi readers, taking in the small print is vital knowledge for you because if you don’t know it, it can damage your personal finances in a thousand small ways. Think about it, you don’t read then you get hit with a charge you didn’t expect, but that was outlined in the small print. Your monthly budget suddenly gets a whole lot tighter.