Martin complained to his bank about mis-sold PPI in November 2019, after the FCA deadline. He felt his ill health in the run-up to the deadline meant his bank should consider his complaint. We acknowledged the difficult time Martin had had, but didn’t agree he had been prevented from making his complaint on time.
What happened
Martin contacted us after his bank refused to look into his complaint about mis-sold PPI. He said he’d submitted a claim in November 2019, but the bank had said it was invalid because it was after the FCA’s deadline.
Martin told us he hadn’t submitted his claim earlier because he’d been suffering from a health issue, which meant he’d been attending regular hospital and GP appointments and blood tests during the final two years before the deadline. He said the paperwork relating to his loan had been in his loft, which he couldn’t access during his treatment because of his joint pain.
Martin’s bank had told him that these weren’t exceptional circumstances, so it wouldn’t look into his complaint. He disagreed and asked us to look into his case.
What we said
This had undoubtedly been a difficult period for Martin. We had to weigh up whether he could reasonably have complained before the deadline – and if he couldn’t, whether his bank should process his claim despite his missing the deadline.
We decided that, on balance, Martin could have complained before the deadline. We acknowledged that he would have struggled to retrieve documents relating to the loan, but he didn’t need these documents to complain to his bank on time. So we explained to him that we didn’t think it was fair to tell the bank to investigate his complaint.