How to complain about financial services Poor financial complaints processes
Many complaints to FOS about financial services are upheld
Chances are you'll clash with a bank, building society or insurance provider at some time in your life.
Disputes aren't always dealt with quickly, but figures show that the financial ombudsman rules in favour of consumers more often than not.
When we surveyed over 2,000 Which? members in June 2009, more than 40% said they had considered complaining about a financial product but almost a quarter of those people had failed to act.
If you think you've been badly treated, it's well worth standing your ground, even if your complaint is initially rejected.
Most unresolved complaints can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), which is free to use.
Almost 60% of complaints went in favour of consumers in the first six months of 2009 and, with some big banks, the success rate was a lot higher.
But you may have to be patient, as the FOS received more than 750,000 complaints last year. Many took between six and nine months to resolve but a third were finished within three months.
You can speed up the process by being sure of what you can complain about and how to lodge a grievance correctly.
Naming and shaming
The FOS began publishing details of successful complaints late September 2009 in the hope that naming and shaming companies would encourage them to improve their complaints handling.
During the final six months of 2010, the Financial Ombudsman Service received a total of 97,237 new complaints – an increase of 15% on the 84,212 cases received in the first half of the year. The 5 companies with the largest number of complaints were
- Lloyds TSB (12,234)
- Santander (6,759)
- Bank of Scotland (6,743)
- HSBC (6,736)
- Barclays (6,535)
