Posts Tagged ‘complaints’
Barclays, Lloyds and Santander top FSA complaints list
Figures from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) have revealed that the three most complained about British banks are Barclays, Lloyds and Santander.
According to the FSA, Barclays received more than a quarter of a million complaints in the first half of 2011.
Lloyds received 181,907 complaints in the six month period, while Santander had 168,888 complaints lodged against it.
NatWest, Bank of Scotland and HSBC were next on the list with 147,109, 130,469 and 98,150 complaints respectively.
The FSA added that almost 10,000 complaints were filed every day to financial institutions.
However, the FSA highlights that Spanish banking giant Santander was the most likely to deal with cases within eight weeks.
Within that timeframe, it dealt with 98% of cases, compared with 90% at HSBC, 89% at Barclays, 86% at Natwest, 77% at Lloyds and 74% at Royal Bank of Scotland.
However, the banks point out that the majority of the complaints were about the controversial payment protection insurance (PPI).
The FSA introduced a review of the insurance after millions of policies were mis-sold and thousands of complaints were received.
In April, the High Court ruled that the banks had to abide by the new rules of the FSA, which meant they had to review all their past sales to see if customers have a claim for mis-selling.
Under a PPI policy, an agreed sum of money is paid out each month to fully cover, or cover a percentage of the payment due on your mortgage or loan if you are unable to work, as a result of becoming unemployed or sick.
It was established last year that financial providers commonly boosted their profits by incorporating the cost of a one-off PPI premium into a loan.
Meanwhile, in response to the FSA’s figures, Antony Jenkins, chief executive of Barclays retail and business banking, said: “We have made good progress in reducing complaints, with a substantial and sustainable reduction by nearly a third.”
Furthermore, a spokesperson for Lloyds said: “The complaints figures include those made about PPI. If you take those out our banking complaints have gone down compared with the second half of 2010.”
Loan scam complaints up 50%
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is warning people to steer clear of scam loan companies that take upfront fees but fail to provide credit, or offer unsuitable credit alternatives. The watchdog has seen a 50% year-on-year rise in complaints about loan scams, particularly credit applications that involve upfront fees sent through money transfer companies. [...]
Santander returns call centres to UK from India
Spanish banking giant Santander has announced it will return all of its call centres to the UK from India after complaints from its customers. It will create 500 jobs as part of the process and it is the latest in a series of customer service focus initiatives from the bank. Santander has a major UK [...]
FSA fines Bank of Scotland £3.5m
Bank of Scotland, which is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, has been fined £3.5 million by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). The matter arose after the Financial Ombudsman Service received appeals from investors who said their complaints had been rejected wrongly. As a result, the bank has been ordered to pay customers around £17 [...]
Financial complaints rise in second half
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has today said complaints rose in the second half 2010. According to the FOS, it received 97,237 new complaints between 1 July and 31 December – a rise of 15% compared with the first half of 2010. This list only covers those complaints which required mediation. Lloyds Banking Group, which [...]