Complaints Down 30% as PPI Deadline Passes

PPI makes up the bulk of complaints to Financial Ombudsman Service, with investment products and pensions markedly lower than a year ago

James Gard 3 June, 2020 | 12:15AM
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FCA PPI ad campaign

Payment protection insurance (PPI) accounted for almost half the complaints made to the Financial Ombudsman Service in the last financial year, according to the latest figures. The ombudsman received 122,000 complaints about PPI in the 2019/2020 tax year out of a total of 270,000 new cases, with a spike in complaints around the time of the end of August PPI deadline.

Overall, the number of complaints dropped 30% year-on-year, down from 388,392 in 2018/19, which is surprising given that the Woodford crisis, the LC&F mini-bond scandal and the final PPI deadline occurred during that time period. However, the percentage of complaints upheld in favour of the consumer rose to 32% in 2019/2020, from 28% the year before.

The numer of overall enquiries received by the ombudsman about PPI - as opposed to cases taken on - is higher at 241,970, but still down 9% from the previous year. 

Customers of banks and building societies had until August 2019 to lodge a complaint for mis-sold payment protection insurance, which was often added to loans and other financial products, often without people’s knowledge. The scandal has dogged the UK banking sector for years, costing big banks billions of pounds and further damaging their reputations following the financial crisis. While the first payment for mis-sold PPI was made in 2011, the UK Government imposed a deadline last year – accompanied by a high-profile ad campaign – in an attempt to draw a line under the scandal.

However, PPI complaints will still appear in this year’s FoS data (for 2020/21) because contacting the ombudsman is the next stage of redress for those whose bank has turned down or ignored an initial PPI complaint. The provider must respond within eight weeks of the complaint – so if you put in a complaint on the deadline of August 29, as many did, you would still have six months to refer this response to the ombudsman.

Investment Complaints Drop

For the providers at least, the volume of new PPI cases taken on by the ombudsman is moving in the right direction – there was a 32% drop in complaints about PPI year-on-year, from 180,507 to 122,513.

The investment and pensions industry will also be encouraged by the drop in cases taken on by the ombudsman in the year: investment related complaints saw a 37% drop to 1,797. Breaking that data down, the FoS took on 119 complaints about investment trusts, down 34%, 823 complaints about stocks & shares Isas, a fall of 34%, and 137 complaints about unit trusts, 10% lower than the year before.

There was also a 26% fall in pensions complaints to 5,528, of which the majority (2,606) related to Self-invested Personal Pensions (Sipps).

But the fall in numbers may not be a lasting trend. Setting out its annual strategy alongside its complaints data, the FoS said the coronavirus crisis will place additional strains on consumers’ relationship with financial firms. “The unprecedented Covid-19 situation has already given rise to many new and complex questions of fairness when things go wrong in financial arrangements,” says Caroline Wayman, chief ombudsman and chief executive of the Financial Ombudsman Service.

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About Author

James Gard

James Gard  is senior editor for Morningstar.co.uk

 

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