Complaints we can help with - Financial Ombudsman Service (2024)

Make a complaint

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  Complaints we can look at

  We can help with complaints about most kinds of financial products and services provided in or from the UK – from bank accounts, debt collection and payday loans to insurance and mortgages.

  Find out more about our approach to complaints about specific types of financial product or service by selecting the area you’d like to read about from the list below:

  • Home, travel, motor, wedding and other types of insurance
  • Bank accounts, payments, cards, cash machines and other banking services
  • Fraud and scams
  • Mortgages including early repayment charges, valuations and equity
  • Loans and other types of credit like car finance or debt and repayment problems
  • Investments
  • Pension and annuities
  • Payment protection insurance (PPI)
  • Other complaints– including complaints involving the impact ofCovid-19,economic and domestic abuse, the cost of living,orpower of attorney.

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  Complaints we can’t help with

  There may be some occasions where we can’t help with a complaint.

  Sometimes we can’t help because your complaint should be dealt with by a different organisation. Or certain time limits might affect whether we can or can't help. Theremay be other reasons– for example, we won’t usually look into a problem that’s been decided by a court, or one that we’ve looked at already.

  Read more about complaints we can't help with
  

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  Who can complain?

  We can help a range of people with a complaint, about financial products or services. Broadly we can look at complaints from individual customers, micro-enterprises and small businesses, and some charities and trusts.

  Generally, we can help with complaints about businesses that provide retail financial products and servicesin or from the UK. It doesn’t matter what your nationality is or where you live.

  Our service is free and easy-to-use. You don’t need to pay anyone to represent you, for example a lawyer or claims management company (CMC). But if you want to, you can ask a member of your family, a friend or someone else to help you with your complaint.

  Read more about who we can help
  

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  Time limits

  Time limits apply when making a complaint.So it’s best to take action as soon as you realisethere’s a problem.

  We might not be able to help if:

  • what you’re complaining about happenedmore than 6 years ago, and
  • you complain more than 3 years fromwhen you became aware (or should havebecome aware) that you had a reasonto complain.
  • and you’ll need to contact us within 6 monthsof the business’s final response.

  Read more about time limits that apply
  

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  How do I make a complaint?

  You need to contact the financial business you want to complain about first, and give them a chance to resolve things, before submitting your complaint to us. You need to tell them what's happened and how you want the problem put right. If you haven't done that yet,read our step by step guide to complaining.

  The financial business has to give their finalresponse to your complaint within 8 weeks at the most, depending on what you’recomplaining about.

  If you’re not happy with their response, or the business doesn't reply in time, you can bring your complaint to us. We’ll check it’s something we can deal with by asking a few questions about what happened, and if we think we can help we'll ask you to send us the details and we'll investigate.

  Read more about how to complain
  Or make a new complaint online