Serious money troubles?

The Financial Ombudsman Service is there to help

Sometimes it’s hard to know where to turn when you find yourself in dispute with a financial business. It can feel daunting trying to get a complaint resolved; particularly when you don’t seem to be making any progress or you don’t know where to start.

The Financial Ombudsman Service is a free service set up by law that might be able to help. Its job is to settle disputes between consumers and businesses providing financial services, such as banks, insurance companies and other financial firms. They can look at complaints about a wide range of financial matters – from problems with a credit card or loan to a disputed motor insurance claim.

If you’re managing a tight budget - or have money going in and out of your bank account at irregular times - it can make things more difficult if a mistake is made or a problem occurs. Sometimes it can feel like things are quickly spiraling out of control. In these circumstances the first thing to do is to contact the business responsible and explain to them what has happened.

If they are unable to put things right, you might want to make a formal complaint – you can do this over the phone or in writing. The financial business has eight weeks to resolve things directly with you – and the majority of complaints get sorted out at this stage.

However, if this doesn’t resolve matters, you might want to contact the ombudsman service. The ombudsman service, like a judge, is impartial. It looks at both sides of the case, without taking sides. It doesn’t rely on how well the arguments are presented – instead it considers the underlying facts of the case and it resolves the majority of cases informally by mediation and conciliation. Its adjudicators are happy to talk through their assessments on the phone.

For those cases that are more complex, it might be necessary to make a more formal written adjudication. But no matter how complicated the dispute is, the service will try to provide a clear, jargon-free assessment of your complaint.

If you aren’t sure how to pursue a complaint with a financial business the Financial Ombudsman Service’s consumer helpline may be able to help: 0845 080 1800. Alternatively, you might like to look at the top tips for complaining or refer to the consumer fact sheets on their website: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

Top tips for complaining

1. What’s the problem? Get what you are unhappy about clear in your own mind.
2. Stay calm. Even if you are upset, try to stay calm – this will help you to get across your points clearly
3. Write or phone? Decide whether you want to write or phone and have any relevant policy or account numbers to hand. Make a note of the date, time and name of anyone you speak to.
4. Try to keep it brief. Tell the firm what you are not happy about and how you would like them to put things right.
5. Take it higher! If you aren’t making progress, say you want to register it as a formal complaint.

Some case studies recently investigated by the ombudsman service
Mobile phone insurance:
A second-year student accidentally left his mobile phone in a shop.  When he returned to collect it, it was missing.  The phone was insured, but his insurer rejected the claim saying the phone had been left unattended and that the claim would not be paid.

The ombudsman agreed there was an exclusion in the policy for items left ‘unattended’.  But because this severely restricted the cover, we said this should have been brought to the customer’s attention when he took out the policy.  As the insurer could not prove they had done this – or that the consumer had acted carelessly – the ombudsman told the insurer to pay the student’s claim.

Personal loan:
A recent college-leaver responded to a marketing letter she received from a loan company.  She was offered a loan of £5000, which she used to buy a car.  But she later fell seriously behind with the payments.  She complained that she shouldn’t have been given the loan, as she had no income and was reliant on benefits when she took it out.

Investigating the facts, the ombudsman decided that the company hadn’t made an error when they offered the loan.  The application was in joint names – with her former partner – and was affordable on their joint income.  However, though the complaint was not upheld, the company agreed with the ombudsman that the customer was in financial difficulty, and offered to help her by re-scheduling her repayments.