The banking products to avoid

Barclays is our most complained about bank, clocking up customer complaints at one a minute over the past six months, according to the Financial Services Authority.

But it isn't the only bank to receive a slew of complaints. While Barclays notched up a quarter of a million complaints over the period, Lloyds TSB received 181,907, Santander had 168,888 and NatWest 147,109.

In total, almost 10,000 complaints are filed each day to financial institutions – and banks, having the most customers, pick up the lion's share of these gripes.

The biggest cause of complaints is still mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI), which is designed to cover loan or credit card repayments. But this isn't the only product that customers should give a wide berth to. Banks don't make their money offering the core products we need: current accounts, loans and mortgages. In recent years they've made far more money from selling various "extras", from insurance policies and investment bonds to offering "wealth management" advice.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/banking/8799809/The-banking-products-to-avoid.html

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List of products to avoid at the link. British advice, but most also applies to the US.

In the US they are exempt from the law that protects credit card holders.