Grievances about banking and loan products accounted for more than half of all nine million client complaints against financial services firms over a three year period.
Grievances about banking and loan products accounted for more than half of all nine million client complaints against financial services firms over a three year period.
Companies are required to report every six months to the Financial Services Authority how many complaints they receive and how they handle them. The authority made the figures for 2006–2008 publicly available for the first time this week.
Claims of overcharging on current accounts and mis-selling of mortgage endowments were the main source of gripes. Misleading advice given about life and pension products also caused concern (these accounted for more than a third in 2008).
Companies took more than eight weeks to resolve complaints in ten per cent of complaints. About 40% of disputes were decided in the client’s favour. The speed of complaints-handling remained fairly steady over the period.
Dan Waters, director of retail policy and conduct risk at the Financial Services Authority, says: “Publishing this information will mean that consumers and firms can now see how many complaints the industry receives and how it deals with them.”
More than 1.2 million complaints are still pending until settled by courts.
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