Ombudsman News 164

Our latest complaints data on financial products and services is now available on our website. Overall, we received 50,906 complaints in the first three months of the 2021/22 financial year. The complaints data includes the number of enquiries and new cases we received, the number of complaints passed to an ombudsman for a final decision and the proportion of complaints resolved in favour of customers.

The number of fraud and scams complaints that customers brought to us increased by 66% in the first quarter of the 2021/22 financial year, compared with the same period the previous year. We’ve seen cases where fraudsters have posed as their customer’s bank and convinced them to move their money to a ‘safe account’. We’ve also heard from consumers who have paid for goods via a bank transfer but didn’t receive what they’d paid for. We also saw an increase in complaints about fraud and scams that involved cryptocurrencies.

Our guidance for businesses on handling complaints about fraud and scams, and examples of how we resolved cases, is available on our website.

For the first time in over a decade, current accounts were the most complained about product, with consumers bringing 6,911 complaints. This is an increase of 55% compared to the same period last year. Complaints about fraud and scams accounted for around half of the current account complaints we received in the first three months of the year. Complaints about credit cards and car insurance were other areas where we saw the high numbers of complaints.

We publish guidance about our approach to the range of complaint types we see on our website. 

This week we also published our half-yearly figures showing the number of complaints received about individual financial businesses and the uphold rates.

Our complaints data about claims management companies (CMCs) shows the volume of complaints we received and resolved about CMCs, and the proportion of complaints upheld in the customer's favour.

Read our quarterly data