According to Citizens Advice, customers who stay with their suppliers of services such as broadband, savings and home insurance are significantly worse off than new customers - a total of £4.1 billion loss a year.

Both the Competition and Markets Authority (CAM) and the Financial Conduct Authority have promised to further investigate whether loyal customers are being conned out of their money.

Problem areas

According to Citizens Advice, there are five key areas where excessive pricing has been detected. These are:

• Savings accounts
• Mortgages
• Household insurance
• Mobile phone contracts
• Broadband contracts

One example of extreme over-changing given by the Citizens Advice is that of an elderly couple in their nineties who were paying £1,000 a year extra for their home insurance after being with the same company for six years.

The FCA has said that they have already been concerned about this pricing issue for some time and have announced its own study into the insurance market.

According to Huw Evans, Associate Director of the Association of British Insurers, 'three out of four people shop around' for deals with insurance providers, and there will still need to be measures in place to ensure that new customers don't miss out on 'the benefits of competition and innovation' as the FCA's Chief Executive Andrew Bailey puts it.

What can you do to get the best deal?

• Speak to your mortgage/insurance advisers to ensure that you are getting the best deal for you.
• Always look around. Whether its home insurance or your mobile phone contract, it is always worth looking around for a better deal when your contract is nearing its end. Comparison sights such as MoneySupermarket or Comparethemarket are good at doing the work for you and skimming loads of providers to present you with an overview of the cheapest deals.
• Don't forget - not every deal is visible on a comparison site. Some providers are able to offer even better deals when you contact them directly. Car and Home insurance providers are often able to offer you bespoke deals via telephone.

What happens now?

The CMA now has 90 days to come up with ideas for rectifying the issue. This may involve new laws, enforcement by regulators or a full market investigation. However, the CMA's Senior Director Daniel Gordon has promised a thorough response to 'make sure that businesses don't take unfair advantage of their long standing customers'.