Financial complaints ‘on the up’
Consumer gripes over poorly performing financial services firms
went through the roof in the first six months of 2011, as
complaints rose by more than 50% and disputes over payment
protection insurance (PPI) accounted for nearly two-thirds of the
new cases.
Figures released by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) show
almost 150,000 new complaints were filed over the six months to
June, almost 820 per day. The 54% increase from 97,237 in the
preceding half year was largely bolstered by issues with PPI,
accounting for 98,632 of the new actions.
During the recent PPI debacle, five banks received more than
10,000 complaints each and, racking up more than 72,000 cases in
total. During most of that period, four of the main high street
banks put complaints about PPI mis-selling on hold pending the
outcome of a test case on the issue.
However, that case went against the banks in April, when
they were ordered to clear the backlog complaints by the end of
August either by paying compensation or rejecting a complaint.
Last week, City regulator the FSA revealed that the financial
sector paid out £215 million in compensation to victims of the PPI
mis-selling scandal in the first half of the year.
And the huge payouts are expected to continue as Lloyds Banking
Group has set aside £3.2 billion to cover compensation, Royal Bank
of Scotland made a provision of £850 million, HSBC recorded a 440
million US dollars (£270 million) hit, and Barclays allocated £1
billion.
Were you mis-sold PPI? You could be one of the thousands of UK
consumers entitled to compensation. Contact our experts today and
we'll make sure you get your slice of the millions on offer.