PPI drives bank complaints to a new record high
PAYMENT protection insurance (PPI) complaints have jumped to a new record high, the Financial Ombudsman Service said yesterday.
However, the tide has showed some signs of slowing, with banks like Barclays recording a fall in the number of referrals to the official agency.
Total financial complaints jumped to 327,035 in the six months from January to June, up 15 per cent on the previous six-month period.
The vast majority were PPI complaints, which made up 266,228 of the cases, 86 per cent of the total.
Claimants initially appeal to their banks for compensation over PPI mis-selling, and if their case is rejected or takes more than eight weeks to process they can then complain to the FOS.
Lloyds Banking Group saw the most complaints referred to the FOS, with 129,294 over the period, mostly from PPI cases.
Its Bank of Scotland and Lloyds brands were the two biggest sources of complaint in the half-year, though the lender saw an 11 per cent fall in non-PPI complaints.
Next on the list was Barclays, which saw a 2.6 per cent fall in complaints.
“Despite this progress we remain completely dissatisfied with our volumes and overturn rates which remain too high. We recognise that in the past we didn’t always listen closely enough to the FOS’s concerns and react as well or as swiftly as we should have,” said Barclays’ Paul Maddox.
“We have therefore changed our approach and are now working very closely with the FOS as we constantly review our policies and practices to prevent customers from feeling the need to refer in the first place.”