Bank of Scotland is most complained-about bank, watchdog reveals 

More than 20,000 complaints about bank dealt with by financial ombudsman in first half of 2015, with Barclays and Lloyds also prompting many complaints

Bank of Scotland, Barclays and Lloyds have been named the three “most complained-about” financial firms so far this year.

The financial ombudsman dealt with a total of 60,000 new cases relating to these three banks in the space of six months, and also revealed that complaints involving NatWest have leapt by more than 50%.

The Financial Ombudsman Service took on a total of 173,994 new cases in the first half of 2015 – an increase of 8% on the second half of 2014.

Complaints about payment protection insurance (PPI) made up more than half of the total, adding to more than 94,000. However, this is 10,000 down on the number received in the second half of last year – which may indicate that complaints relating to mis-sold PPI are starting to tail off. The widespread mis-selling of this insurance by banks, credit card companies and other lenders has resulted in payouts totalling billions of pounds.

By contrast, complaints about financial products other than PPI jumped by 45% – largely because of a surge in new cases involving so-called packaged bank accounts that are being pursued by claims management firms on behalf of individuals.

Packaged bank accounts are a type of current account, offered by the likes of Lloyds and NatWest, that charges customers a monthly fee for a package of benefits that typically includes travel insurance, mobile phone insurance and card protection. During the last couple of years, concerns have been voiced that some financial institutions may have been mis-selling them – and complaints have soared to above 400 a week.

Bank of Scotland was the most complained-about financial brand during the first six months of 2015, with 20,288 cases. In second place was Barclays with 20,021 cases, and in third was Lloyds Bank with 19,818.

The equivalent figure for NatWest was 11,549 complaints, though this was up 51% on the 7,663 seen in the second half of last year.

Caroline Wayman, the chief ombudsman, said: “Complaints about PPI continue to make up over half of our workload. And though the number of new PPI cases has reduced in the first half of this year, the decline has not been as steady or as marked as generally expected. This is at least in part due to the continued high levels of activity by claims managers in this area.”

She added that claims firms had also been largely responsible for the sizeable increase in complaints about packaged bank accounts, “which have driven up our banking workload over this period by two thirds”.

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Ombudsman publishes latest complaints data on individual financial businesses

The Financial Ombudsman Service today releases the latest six-monthly complaints data relating to banks, insurers and other financial businesses.

The figures published today show that the ombudsman took on a total of 173,994 new cases in the first half of 2015 – an overall increase of 8% on the previous period (161,649).

Of the total cases referred to the ombudsman in the first half of 2015, payment protection insurance (PPI) made up over half (55%) – with 94,091 new PPI complaints, a 10% fall compared with the previous period.

For complaints about financial products other than PPI, the number increased to 79,550, a rise of 45%. This largely resulted from the increase in complaints about packaged bank accounts brought by claims-management companies during this period.

The average uphold rate (where the ombudsman found in the consumer’s favour) over the six month period was 57% – ranging from 5% to 94% across individual businesses. 22 financial businesses feature in the complaints data for the first time, meaning that 222 businesses in total had 30 or more cases referred to, and resolved by, the ombudsman service in this period.

Chief ombudsman Caroline Wayman said:

It’s been seven years since the ombudsman first began to publish data about individual financial businesses.

This has coincided with a period of volatility and challenge for much of the financial services sector – and this is still reflected in the data we publish today.

Complaints about PPI continue to make up over half of our workload. And though the number of new PPI cases has reduced in the first half of this year, the decline has not been as steady or as marked as generally expected. This is at least in part due to the continued high levels of activity by claims managers in this area. 

Claims managers have also been largely responsible for the substantial increase in complaints about packaged bank accounts, which have driven up our banking workload over this period by two thirds. 

Nobody wants “another PPI ”. This is why we’re working closely with businesses, claims companies and their regulators, to make sure PPI is sorted as fairly and as quickly as possible for everyone involved – and that lessons are learned to prevent anything like this happening again. If we can all achieve this, then the next seven years should be a different story. Source: Ombudsman 

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Source: The Guardian

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