Which banks are best for complaints?
Having your complaint dealt with quickly and fairly is extremely important when choosing where to bank but which banks are best for complaints?
Barclays is the financial institution most likely to reject a consumer's complaint against it, according to data from consumer watchdog, the Financial Ombudsman Service.
The six-monthly complaints figures are released by the ombudsman to inform consumers about the numbers of complaints being logged against some 100,000 financial businesses.
More pertinently for consumers, they also reveal home often the ombudsman has decided that the consumer's complaint is justified.
Since the second half of 2009, the total number of complaints referred to the ombudsman has gone up by 2,076.
The most-complained-about financial businesses can be easily enough identified, each having over 3,000 individual complaints being made against them. Lumped together, the top five account for over half of all complaints logged by the ombudsman.
While these numbers may seem large, it should be remembered that the financial institutions involved are also large.
The Bankers Association has been at pains to point out that the banks with more customers will statistically also have more complaints. It also suggests that just because a customer complains, the bank shouldn't automatically be seen to be at fault.
While complaint numbers aren't in themselves indicative, what is particularly telling is the percentage of complaints that have been decided in the consumer's favour by the ombudsman. In this respect, Barclays fares the worst.
While Lloyds TSB bank received the most overall complaints with Barclays coming relatively far behind with 7,991, the ombudsman decided that the consumer's complaint was justified in 61 percent of Barclay's cases compared to 45 percent of Lloyds. Not that either of them is particularly good considering that the industry average is a 44 percent uphold rate.
The Bank of Scotland was complained about 6,211 times, of which 23 percent were upheld. Santander received 4,881 complaints, 19 percent of which were upheld. HSBC received 3,286 complaints, 34 percent of which were upheld.
The chief ombudsman has said that financial institutions need to make more effort in investigating and ensuring that consumer complaints are properly resolved.
For the purpose of its report, the ombudsman used five categories for consumers' complaints. These are: life and pensions and decumulation; banking and credit, general insurance; mortgages and home finance; and investment.
The figures relating to credit card complaints are in the banking and credit category so these are of most interest to those looking to compare credit cards.
More than half of complaints made about Barclays, Santander, the Bank of Scotland and HSBC were directed at their credit and banking services. Around two-thirds of complaints issued against Lloyds referred to its general insurance services, with about a third concerning its credit and banking services.
While credit card holders may well be wondering what the specific numbers of complaints made by cardholders amounts to, such specifics haven't yet been made available by the ombudsman. This has led to grumbling among some consumer rights organisations.
A spokesman for Consumer Focus has stated that there must be more focus on what individual complaints refer to.
In particular, he asked for specifics regarding which products are consistently being complained about so that consumers can make more informed decisions when searching for a specific product. For example, 0% balance transfer credit cards.
Which banks are best for complaints?
By: Justin Schamotta
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