Although PPI-related complaints are falling, other customer complaints are on the rise, especially for the category “decumulation, life and pensions”, for which complaints soared by close to 20 per cent.
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Britain’s financial regulator said complaints about the mis-selling of loan insurance by banks and other financial firms fell by 16.6 percent in the first half of 2015, compared to the previous six months.
While current accounts get an overhaul from all banks, this has seen them lumbered with having the second highest level of complaints in the first half of the year, with 506,326 concerns hitting building societies and banks – that’s a jump of 31.6% from the previous period.
The Financial Ombudsman Service, which resolves disputes between consumers and financial firms, recently said it is receiving around 1,000 new complaints about packaged current accounts every week. If you think you’re in for a few compo over PPI and haven’t got it sorted yet, you’d better hurry as there’s likely to be a time limit put in place – you can find out how to claim your PPI compensation here.
“It is clear that firms need to look at the causes for this rise, and where necessary take action to address the causes of the trend”.
FCA figures revealed that Pru received 8,827 complaints in the first six months of 2015, making it the most complained about life insurer in the UK.
He added that companies should have good consumer outcomes at the “heart” of their activities.
In particular, consumers have been complaining about packaged accounts, which include insurance policies. Banks made billions of pounds from the strategies, which were frequently forcefully sold.
The spike in complaints in relation to these products coincides with the introduction of the pension freedoms which came into effect in April.
The FCA said overall complaints against banks decreased by 2.1 percent, reflecting the decline in PPI cases.
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“Almost £2.5 billion was paid to customers in the first three months, showing huge numbers of people have accessed their pensions successfully”.
