When we want a loan, the first port of call would often be our bank, especially if the loan is connected to our business.

Take the case of two readers who wanted to buy a business and needed to borrow £150,000.

Initially, they were quite happy with the arrangements their bank, Barclays, put in place.

Barclays had offered the loan after several other leading financial institutions would not.

Barclays, quite understandably, insisted on them being protected for life and critical illness and arranged for one of its Barclays Life policies at a premium of £149.98 a month.

One year on, our readers thought they should check to see if they had value for money. After all, the insurance they had would never have a value in itself.

By looking around they found a comp-arable policy from Friends Provident would cost only £78.03 a month. Seeing the saving that could be made, they told the bank they were going to change the insurance to the new lower-priced company.

Our readers were then told Barclays could also get a cheaper policy, through someone else.

This caused them great disappointment.

Having started a business (which always involves financial risk), they had found an insurance their bank insisted upon was almost twice as expensive as a comparable one on the open market. Next, they discovered they could, in fact, get the cover cheaper through their bank.

They felt they could no longer take what the bank said at face valuet. A sorry story which highlights our need to have confidence our financial providers are doing the best thing for us.

Service, in my opinion, is really so very important.

Garry Spencer is a specialist with Wilbury Financial Management of Worthing, a member of IFA Network Ltd, which is regulated by the Personal Investment Authority. Tel: 01903 213222.

garry@wilbury.uk.com