Britain’s biggest High Street banks have seen complaints surge to record levels. Almost 150,000 disputes rejected by financial firms – including those bailed out by the taxpayer to the tune of £66billion – were taken to the Financial Ombudsman in the first half of the year.
This is a 54 per cent increase on the 97,237 lodged in the previous six months. The figures, released by the Ombudsman reveal the continuing fallout from one of the biggest mis-selling scandals to hit theUK. Almost two thirds of disputes were about Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) which was mis-sold to up to 6.4million customers alongside loans and credit cards.
The Ombudsman was swamped as banks refused to deal with PPI complaints while they fought an unsuccessful challenge in the courts. The Ombudsman received 19,569 complaints about the bank, a 60 per cent increase on the previous six months. Just under 17,000 were about PPI. The disputes arbitrator upheld more than six in ten cases rejected by the bank.
The Ombudsman’s figures will be hard to stomach for taxpayers who have spent billions propping up Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland/NatWest. Chief Ombudsman Natalie Ceeney said: ‘Complaints in this period about PPI were harder fought, and harder to resolve – particularly if we found in favour of the customer. It’s essential that banks get their complaint handling in order so they can deal fairly with their customers’ PPI complaints, instead of people having to come to the Ombudsman to get problems sorted out.’
After legal defeat in April, the banks were forced to review sales of PPI since 2005 and set aside more than £7billion in refunds. Lloyds Banking Group alone has set aside £3.2billion. Millions of customers could be in line for an average refund of £2,750, but banks are forcing customers to do all the legwork themselves.
Sally Bowyer, Managing Director of Brunel Franklin said: “Everyone accepts that banks provide a valuable service and are entitled to make fair and reasonable charges for services. But people shouldn’t be sold PPI without being furnished with the full facts. PPI mis-selling cases serve as timely reminder of how careful we all need to be when taking out new loans and other credit card agreements.”
Learn more about PPI refunds and find out if you could apply for a refund today! Visit the website www.brunelfranklin.com or call Brunel Franklin, free, on 0800 051 54 51.