We’ve heard that a number of people have recently received letters from scammers claiming to be from the Financial Ombudsman Service.

The letter suggests that a refund is due for bank charges. This is followed by a letter claiming to be from HMRC confirming a refund of tax is due – this is part of the same scam. We have been in contact with HMRC about this.

Please do not respond to these letters. The Financial Ombudsman Service doesn't write to or phone people out of the blue to ask for personal information, or to suggest that a refund it due. We would only contact you if you've been in touch with us to register a complaint – and then we would only speak to you about that complaint. We're a free service so we will never ask you for money and we don't pay compensation to you directly.
If you have received a letter from us that seems suspicious and you’d like to check if it’s genuine, please phone us directly on 0300 123 9 123 and we’ll be happy to help.

For more information on what to look out for if you think someone is pretending to be fake Financial Ombudsman Service, head to Action Fraud’s website here.

Latest news

Ombudsman News 190

8 April 2024

Welcome to the latest edition of Ombudsman News. In this edition, we highlight our Plans and Budget for 2024/25 and changes to our award limits. We also share details of roles we’re currently recruiting for.

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Financial Ombudsman increases complaint level predictions as performance continues to improve

4 April 2024

Today we published our final Plans and Budget detailing the next phase of our transformation, whilst confirming the increased caseload we expect in the upcoming financial year.  

Press release Strategic plans and budget

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Increase to our award limits

13 March 2024

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has confirmed an increase to our award limits from 1 April 2024.

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