Complaints involving vulnerability

Life has good times and bad. You may be in a vulnerable situation, for example, if you:

• have a health condition or illness that affects how you carry out day-to-day tasks
• are going through a major life event – like bereavement, job loss, or a divorce or relationship breakdown
• are less able to bear financial or emotional shocks
• don’t feel confident about financial matters or managing money.

When someone is in vulnerable circumstances, they’re more at risk of harm or being influenced than they might be if they weren't vulnerable. So, vulnerability – or being vulnerable – can affect how you make financial decisions and puts you at greater risk of buying financial products and services you don’t need.

We're all vulnerable at one time or another, although we may not recognise it. And vulnerability doesn't affect everyone in the same way. It can come and go, be short term or permanent.

If you’re in a vulnerable situation, a financial business must take your needs into account. It should, where possible, make adjustments. And it should consider your situation when offering you products or services.

However, people come to us because they believe a financial business didn’t support them or treat them fairly when they were vulnerable. They may think that a financial business:

• could have done more to help, for example, when they informed their bank or mortgage lender that they’d lost their job, were seriously ill, or suffering a bereavement
• put them in a difficult situation, for example, by giving them a loan or credit when they didn’t fully understand what they were agreeing to
• did something wrong, which made things worse or added to their distress, such as continuing to send letters to a family member who has passed away when they have already informed the business of their loved one’s death
• should have made adjustments rather than sticking to a standard process, for example, by allowing them to complete an application over the phone rather than in person when they had mobility issues.

If you’re unhappy with how a financial business treated you when you were vulnerable, we may be able to help.

Check we can help you

Our service is free and easy to use.

You don’t need anyone to represent you but you can ask someone, like a friend or family member, to talk to us on your behalf.

1. Before bringing your complaint to us, you should make a formal complaint to the financial business involved.
2. If they don't send you a final response letter within eight weeks – or you're unhappy with their response – you can complain to us.
3. Our complaint checker will tell you more about some of the things we need to know upfront and help you make sure you’re ready to send us your complaint.
4. You should then fill in our online complaint form. If you need information in a different format, please see our accessibility services.
5. Your case will be assigned to an investigator who will get in touch when they start to look into it and will talk you through our process.

If you work for a charity or consumer group and are looking to make a complaint on behalf of a client, please see our page for Customer advisers – what you need to know.

How to complain

We handle complaints with discretion, sensitivity, and can accept evidence in confidence. We’ll ask you to tell us:

• what’s happened
• the effect it’s had on your life, and
• what you think will help to resolve your complaint.

We’ll ask for any evidence we may need, explain why we’re asking for it and give you time to provide it.

We understand that talking about vulnerability can be difficult, but it’s important that you let us know if you feel you may be vulnerable so that we can:

• get you more support while we handle your case
• review your case more quickly
• adjust the way we communicate with you to suit your needs, and
• consider whether the vulnerability affects the outcome of your complaint.

If you can, please keep any evidence that will help us understand what’s happened, such as letters, statements, and medical notes. If it helps, you can send us copies of these rather than the originals.

We’ll make our decision about what happened using evidence from you, the financial business and any relevant third parties. To make a decision, we'll also consider:  

• the relevant law 
• any regulations that applied at the time 
• any industry codes of conduct in use at the time 
• whether the financial business was aware – or should have been aware – that you were vulnerable, and
• what help or support the financial business offered or gave you.

We'll tell you whether we agree you've been treated unfairly or not and explain how we made our decision. 

If we think you've lost money because you received poor service or the wrong advice, we'll tell the financial business how to put this right. We may also tell them to pay you compensation for any distress or inconvenience you’ve had.

What to expect

·       MoneyHelper has advice on letting creditors know about vulnerabilities and adjustments

·       Citizens Advice offers guidance on debt and money