For consumers

Make a complaint

Use our complaint checker to answer a few questions about your complaint, what has happened and the financial business you want to complain about.

  • You should give the financial business you’re unhappy with a chance to sort things out before bringing your complaint to us.
  • If you haven’t complained to the business yet, read our complaining to a financial business guide.
  • If your complaint is ready to send to us, the checker contains links to our complaint forms. 

Answering the questions in the checker is not a formal assessment of your complaint and your answers are not recorded.

Click the answer that applies to make a start.

Tell us about your complaint

Are you contacting us about a new complaint?

If your complaint is with an investigator, and you have a question about progress or sending in further information, you should speak to your investigator direct. You can find their contact details on emails or letters they have sent to you.

If your complaint isn’t with an investigator yet, or if you have a general enquiry – or want to ask us about something other than a new complaint – you can find ways to contact us on our website. 

About you

To make a new complaint, we need to know about you. Which of these describes your relationship with the business you’re complaining about?

We can look at most complaints brought by customers – people who are using, have used, or may use a financial product or service.

We can look at products or services taken out by one person or more than one person, such as a joint account or mortgage. We will explain what you need to do to complain about joint accounts or other products when you contact us.

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.

We can look at most complaints brought by a small business, charity or trust  if certain criteria relating to their size, value or income are met and they’re a customer or potential customer of the business being complained about. 

Head to our dedicated small business website to find out if you’re eligible to bring a complaint to our service and the types of complaint we can help with. 

You can complain on someone else’s behalf, as long as that person is eligible to complain themselves and you have their permission to represent them (personally eg as a friend or family member or professionally eg as a claims handler or legal representative).

We might not be able to help. Official rules set out the types of complaint we can and can't help with, including rules about the type of customer relationship you have with a financial business.

There are some exceptions, for example if you were scammed into making a payment – and don’t think the bank that received your money has done enough to help your bank get it back – we may be able to look at your complaint. Read more about who we can help and the rules we follow or contact us to discuss your complaint.

Is your complaint about a business that provides financial products or services? We can look into most complaints about businesses that provide financial services – things like bank accounts, credit cards and loans, insurance policies, pensions, savings and investments. We can also look at complaints about Claims Management Companies.

If you’re not sure the business provides financial services, a good start would be to check if they are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

You can do that by entering the name of the business in the FCA’s financial services register on their website.

If you’re still unsure, get in touch with us and we’ll let you know.

If not, what’s your complaint about?

Ombudsman Services: Communications might be able to help with a complaint about your phone, mobile or internet provider and their services.

Although we can't help with a complaint about your phone or internet, we might be able to help if your complaint is about how your bank handled a payment for your bill, or if you've had a problem with your mobile phone insurance.

If you're unsure, get in touch and we’ll be happy to let you know if we can help.

Ombudsman Services: Energy might be able to help if you have a complaint about an energy company, for example your gas or electricity supplier. They can look at complaints about issues like billing, switching suppliers or the supply of energy to your home.

In some circumstances we might be able to help – for example, if you have a complaint about an insurance policy provided by your energy supplier. If you're unsure, get in touch and we’ll be happy to let you know if we can help.

We're not usually able to help with complaints about accountants. Other professional bodies might be able to look into what’s happened  like the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, the ICAEW, or the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, ACCA. Your accountant might refer to the professional body they belong to in their correspondence with you. 

The Housing Ombudsman Service can help with complaints from tenants or leaseholders about social landlords (housing associations and local authorities) or private landlords or letting agents who are a member of the scheme. The Property Ombudsman can look at complaints about property agents that are members of its scheme.

Although we can't look at complaints about your landlord or estate agent, we might be able to help if your bank made an error with your rent payments.

If you’re unsure, get in touch – and we’ll be happy to let you know if we can help.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman may be able to help with complaints about local councils. 

Although we can't help with a complaint about your local council, we might be able to help if your complaint is about how your bank dealt with your payment for council tax.

If you’re unsure, get in touch – and we’ll be happy to let you know if we can help.

The Legal Ombudsman might be able to help with a complaint about a solicitor. They can look at things like the service you received from your legal services provider when buying a house, or when pursuing a personal injury claim.

In some circumstances we might be able to help – for example, where your complaint is about a legal expenses insurance policy. If you’re unsure, get in touch – and we’ll be happy to let you know if we can help.

If your complaint isn’t about a financial services business, but the type of business or organisation you want to complain about isn’t listed above, take a look at our information about other complaint-handling organisations who may be able to help.

Is the business based in the UK?

If you have a complaint about a financial business based outside the UK, we might not be able to help with your complaint. Official rules set out the types of complaint we can and can't help with, this includes rules about where a financial business is based.

Take a look at our other complaint-handling organisations page to find other organisations, including other ombudsman schemes, who may be able to help.

If you’re still unsure, you can get in touch with us to discuss your complaint.

It isn't always obvious where a financial service business is based – for example, if they provide online e-money services. 

A good place to start is to check if they are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). You can do that by entering the name of the business in the FCA’s financial services register on their website.

Official rules set out the types of complaint we can and can't help with, this includes rules about where a financial business is based. But if you want to check, you can get in touch with us to discuss your complaint.

Have you complained to the business already?

When you make a complaint to a financial business, they should look into things and reply within 8 weeks at the most – for some types of complaints, businesses have a shorter timeframe (either 15 or 35 days) to respond to you.

After the financial business has finished looking into your complaint, they should send you something in writing – usually called a ‘final response’ – that sets out their findings. If the business accepts that they’ve done something wrong, they will also set out what they propose to do to help put things right. 

The final response will also explain that you have six months to bring the complaint to us if you remain unhappy or disagree with their reply. 

If you are not happy with their response, or they do not get back to you within 8 weeks, you can bring your complaint to us.

You should contact the financial business before you send a complaint to us. Contact them to explain what’s happened and why you’re complaining to give them a chance to put things right. You can contact us if you’re not happy with their final response. The business will need to be given the chance to resolve your complaint first, before we can get involved.

If you haven't complained to the financial business yet, read our how to complain to a financial business guide that explains what to do.

Have you received a final response letter? Or has it been more than 8 weeks since you complained? The business should respond to your complaint within 8 weeks and send you a final response letter. However, if it’s been more than 8 weeks and you haven’t had a response, you can bring your complaint to us – select ‘yes’ as your answer to this question.

If you have received a final response and you’re not happy with the outcome of your complaint, you can bring your complaint to us. 

If it’s been more than eight weeks since you complained and the business hasn’t responded, you can still bring your complaint to us.

We won’t be able to help with your complaint until you have received a final response letter or if its been more than eight weeks since you complained and the business hasn’t sent a response. 

In some circumstances, a business has up to 35 days to consider a complaint. This applies to complaints about payment services (such as banks transfers, scams, or direct debits) or electronic money (for example, online money transfers or Apple pay). 

You can read more about time limits for a business to reply to a complaint. If you have already complained to the financial business but you are not sure whether the business should have replied to you by now, you can contact us to discuss your complaint.

What’s your complaint about?

Your answers suggest we can probably look into your complaint. Click next to make a new complaint and send us your details.

You can also find information about our general approach to resolving complaints about insurance on our website.

Your answers suggest we can probably look into your complaint. Click next to make a new complaint and send us your details. 

You can also find information about our general approach to resolving complaints about banking and payments on our website.

Your answers suggest we can probably look into your complaint. Click next to make a new complaint and send us your details. 

If you think you’ve been the victim of fraud or a scam, you should report the matter to the financial business, police and Action Fraud as soon as you can. 

We also have information about our general approach to resolving complaints about fraud and scams on our website.

Your answers suggest we can probably look into your complaint. Click next to make a new complaint and send us your details. 

You can find information about our approach to resolving complaints about mortgages on our website.

Your answers suggest we can probably look into your complaint. Click next to make a new complaint and send us your details. 

You can also find information about our approach to resolving complaints about loans and other credit on our website.

Your answers suggest we can probably look into your complaint.  Click next to make a new complaint and send us your details. 

You can also find information about our approach to resolving complaints about investments on our website.

Your answers suggest we can probably look into your complaint. Click next to make a new complaint and send us your details. 

You can also find information about our approach to resolving complaints about pensions and annuities on our website.

Your answers suggest we can probably look into your complaint. Click next to make a new complaint and send us your details. 

You can also find information about our approach to resolving complaints about pre-paid funeral plans on our website.

The deadline for submitting new PPI complaints was 29 August 2019, so it may be too late for you to complain.

You may still be able to bring a complaint to us if you’re unhappy with the response you’ve been given – find out more in our information about making a complaint about PPI.

If you’ve complained to the financial business and you’re not happy with their response, click next to make a new complaint and send us your details.

Your answers suggest we can probably look into your complaint. You can find information about making a complaint about a claims management company (CMC) on our dedicated website.

Make a new complaint 

If your complaint isn’t listed above, we might be unable to help. Official rules set out the types of complaint we can and can't help with, this includes rules about the types of products and services you can complain about to us.

We might be able to help if you’re complaining about something linked to financial services, such as complaints involving the impact of Covid-19economic or domestic abuse, power of attorney or gambling-related harm.

There may be other complaint-handling organisations who can help.

Make a new complaint

How to complete an online complaint form

Youll need the following information to hand when you complete our complaint form:

  • The name of the financial business you're complaining about.
  • Dates of correspondence with the business, including the date of its final response.
  • Your account or policy details. 

Please note that our online complaint form needs to be completed and submitted in one go. It cannot be saved part of the way through. So, please allow up to 30 minutes to complete the form and submit your complaint.

Please dont close the form until you have fully completed and submitted it. If you do, you will lose the stage youre at and the information you have added so far.

Other ways to make a complaint

If you’re unable to use our one of our online forms, there are other ways you can make a complaint to us. You can:

  • call us on 0800 023 4567 and we can take the details of your complaint over the phone or arrange to send a form or other information in different formats. Mondays are usually are busiest days – so if you can, please call on a different day to avoid longer waiting times. 
  • find other ways to get in touch on our contact us page.

How to complete an online complaint form

Youll need the following information to hand to when you complete our complaint form:

  • The name of the financial business you're complaining about.
  • Dates of correspondence with the business, including the date of its final response.
  • Your account or policy details. 

Please note that our online complaint form needs to be completed and submitted in one go. It cannot be saved part of the way through. So, please allow up to 30 minutes to complete the form and submit your complaint.

Please dont close the form until you have fully completed and submitted it. If you do, you will lose the stage youre at and the information you have added so far.

Other ways to make a complaint

If you’re unable to use our one of our online forms, there are other ways you can make a complaint to us. You can:

  • call us on 0800 023 4567 and we can take the details of your complaint over the phone or arrange to send a form or other information in different formats. Mondays are usually are busiest days – so if you can, please call on a different day to avoid longer waiting times. 
  • find other ways to get in touch on our contact us page.

How to complete an online complaint form

Youll need the following information to hand when you complete our complaint form:

  • The name of the financial business you're complaining about.
  • Dates of correspondence with the business, including the date of its final response.
  • Your account or policy details. 

Please note that our online complaint form needs to be completed and submitted in one go. It cannot be saved part of the way through. So, please allow up to 30 minutes to complete the form and submit your complaint.

Please dont close the form until you have fully completed and submitted it. If you do, you will lose the stage youre at and the information you have added so far.

Other ways to make a complaint

If you’re unable to use our one of our online forms, there are other ways you can make a complaint to us. You can:

  • call us on 0800 023 4567 and we can take the details of your complaint over the phone or arrange to send a form or other information in different formats. Mondays are usually are busiest days – so if you can, please call on a different day to avoid longer waiting times. 
  • find other ways to get in touch on our contact us page.