FSA receives reports of unfair treatment of customer from FOS

The Financial Ombudsman Service recently reported that it has had to pass on details of two major banks – which have not yet been named – to the Financial Services Authority, after floods of complaints were received about the two banks from customers that claimed they were being treated unfairly.

According to the FOS the complaints related mostly to the way that customers had been treated by the two banks in question after trying to reclaim unfair and unlawful charges that had been applied to their accounts in the past.

The two banks have also been reported to misleading consumers that wished to claim for these unfair bank charges by failing to provide appropriate information. The banks have been accused of breaking FSA regulations by failing to advise consumers of their right to complain and what the complaints procedure is. This is supposed to be done in writing by the bank when a consumer makes a complaint directly to the bank. However, the FOS states that banks may be ignoring this in a bid to try and cut back on the number of claims in relation to bank charges.

A spokesperson for the Financial Ombudsman Service stated: 'We have contacted the FinancialServices Authority about a couple of banks we are aware of that are breaking the FSArules.' The spokesperson added: 'In the case of account closures, some banks have led consumers to believe that it is not something they can take to the ombudsman service - but it is.'

Many of the complaints that have been received by the FOS relate to the treatment that consumers are receiving after trying to claim back charges, such as having their accounts closed down by the banks in question, for no other reason other than that they tried to reclaim unfair charges.

Tom Smith
25.04.07