Mortgages

A mortgage is a long-term loan that you use to buy property. This is usually your home, but it’s also possible to take out a mortgage to buy a property to let.

You may have bought your mortgage through a broker or directly from your bank or building society. You may have had professional advice which you now feel wasn’t right for you.

We’re here to help with complaints about financial businesses who provide or sell mortgage products, and other forms of home finance.

MoneyHelper offer guidance on what to do if you're struggling to pay your mortgage and where to get free debt advice.

Yes. You will need to complain to the business first. If they don’t reply, or you’re not happy with their final response, you can contact us.

We can look at complaints about financial firms who were involved at any stage of the process – such as lenders, mortgage advisers or brokers. We investigate complaints about:

• most lending secured on residential – and some commercial – property
• non-mortgage products, including home purchase plans – sometimes known as Islamic mortgages
• specialist products, such as equity release plans aimed at older borrowers

Our service is free and easy to use. 

When you bring a complaint to us, it's our job to weigh up all the facts. We’ll make a decision about what happened using evidence from you, the financial business and any relevant third parties. We'll also consider:

• the relevant law
• any regulations that applied at the time
• any industry codes of conduct that were in force at the time

When we've finished investigating, we’ll tell you whether we think the business treated you fairly or not. And we’ll explain how we reached our decision.

If we think the business treated you unfairly, we'll tell them to put you back where you'd be if they hadn't made a mistake. We might also ask them to make an award for any distress and inconvenience caused.

Bring your complaint to us

In general, for most types of mortgage complaint, it takes about one month for us to allocate cases.  It can sometimes take longer, depending on what your complaint is about.

We’re working hard to reduce the time it takes to allocate cases for investigation, so you may hear from us sooner than this.

• If you’re facing financial hardship or severe ill health, please let us know.
• If you’re experiencing financial difficulties, you may also find the Money Advice Service website useful, it contains a list of online debt advice services where you can get immediate and personalised help.

For more information about how we can help with a complaint about a specific type of mortgage product or service, use the links below.