Consult the banking Ombudsman
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The Office of the Banking Ombudsman was set up to resolve individual
complaints about banking services. It has a staff of more than 40, many of them
lawyers, headed by the Banking Ombudsman. The service is provided free to those with complaints. The Office can
award compensation of up to
({@denom})100,000. A bank
has to accept the Office's decision, however the person who filed the complaint
does not have to and retains the right to go to court instead. The Office can deal with complaints from individuals, sole traders,
and partnerships. It can also deal with complaints from companies if their
annual turnover is less than
({@denom})1 million. The
Office cannot give general advice about banking, financial matters or debt
problems. Complaints procedureIf you have a complaint,
your first step is to complain to the bank. Ask the bank for details of its
complaints procedure. You need to follow this through (usually to head office
level) before bringing your complaint to the ombudsman.If you get to the end of the bank's procedure without your complaint
being resolved, the bank will say your complaint has reached deadlock (the bank
should use that word) and that you have 6 months to take up your complaint
through the ombudsman. The procedure is then as follows: - The Ombudsman then has to decide if the complaint comes within
the Office's rules. These lay down what it can and cannot do. There are time
limits and other conditions, which apply. If the bank thinks your complaint is
outside the Office's rules, it may have mentioned this in the deadlock letter.
But it is the ombudsman who decides, not the bank
- The complaint is allocated to an Adjudicator, who investigate
the case fully. This can take some months - how long it takes depends on the
complexity of the matter, and the speed with which the complainant and the bank
reply to requests for information
- After completing the investigation, the Adjudicator will issue
a preliminary decision - called an Adjudication. In the majority of cases, both
parties accept this. If the bank accepts, it has two weeks within which to make
a formal offer to pay the recommended compensation
- Both the complainant and the bank have the right to reject the
Adjudication and ask for it to be reviewed - provided the Adjudicator is
notified within a month of the date of the Adjudication.
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