On 23 September 2024, the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) published a speech given by its Chief Executive and Chief Ombudsman, Abby Thomas at the StepChange Connected 2024 conference.

In her speech Abby Thomas discusses the role of the FOS and in particular, what it sees in complaints that involve credit and debt.

Key points in the speech include:

• In the year ending March 2024, the FOS more than halved the average time that customers had to wait for a resolution to their complaint, compared to two years ago, while at the same time improving the quality scores.
• The FOS received over 18,000 complaints about credit cards in the first three months of this financial year.  The vast majority of those – well over 15,000 – were about irresponsible and unaffordable lending.
• The FOS has seen a considerable increase in complaints involving irresponsible lending across banking and consumer credit – it received over 20,000 cases this first quarter, up from a little under 5,500 cases for the same period last year.
• Both the FCA rules around consumer credit and the Consumer Duty set out clearly what’s required when a customer is struggling to manage. Firms should ensure complaint-handling teams have a thorough and in-depth understanding of both.
• The requirements of the Consumer Duty have had an impact on what the FOS considers to be fair and reasonable in the individual circumstances of each case.  Every case is unique, and the FOS takes into account all the facts and evidence from both the financial business and the complainant, and the circumstances of the case, in each one to determine what’s fair and reasonable.
• The Consumer Duty says firms should monitor the quality of their customer service – actively looking for evidence that will tell them where they’re falling short. Firms can use complaints to gain insights to improve every aspect of their business – from product design to marketing – as well as customer care.