Complaints about lenders
This content applies to England only.
Housing laws vary between England and Scotland. Get advice relating to Scotland
If you own your home and have a mortgage, you can complain about your bank, building society or mortgage lender. In this section, all of these are called ‘lenders’. This section does not apply if you have a mortgage from a private individual. There is no complaint scheme for private arrangements.
You can complain to your lender directly and, if you are not satisfied with their response, you can complain further to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Complaining to the lender
Use the lender’s complaints procedure. Ask about it at the lender’s office, or get information from the lender’s website or from an advice agency.
If the lender does not seem to have a complaints procedure, or if you cannot get any information about it, complain by letter. The lender should deal with your letter under their complaints procedure.
If at the end of the complaints procedure, you are not happy with the result you can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service (see below), or you may be able to use alternative dispute resolution (ADR) or go to court.
Financial Ombudsman Service
The Financial Ombudsman Service is an independent body that investigates complaints about many financial arrangements, including mortgages and linked policies. You can complain about most lenders to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
However, the Ombudsman can’t usually help you until you have gone through the lender’s complaints procedure. You can complain to the Ombudsman if:
- the lender has sent you a letter with its final response to your complaint, but you are still unhappy, or
- you made your complaint at least eight weeks ago but your lender has still not sent you its final response
The Ombudsman will not deal with your complaint if it has been more than six months since you received the lender’s final response to your complaint.
You can get more information from the Financial Ombudsman Service website or by downloading their leaflet, Your complaint and the Ombudsman.
You can apply using the form that you can print off from the Ombudsman’s website or by telephoning the Ombudsman (and you may be asked to complete a form later).
The Ombudsman’s staff will usually try to get your lender to sort things out, but if this is unsuccessful, your complaint will go to the Ombudsman for a decision. The Ombudsman can make the lender put things right, and this might include making the lender pay you compensation. The Ombudsman does not punish the lender.
If you accept the decision it is binding on you as well – you cannot then decide to use alternative dispute resolution (ADR) or go to court.
But if you are not happy with the Ombudsman’s decision, you can refuse it. Then the lender is not forced to do anything, but you can then use alternative dispute resolution (ADR) or go to court.
Complaints advisers
You may see advertisements for 'claims management companies' who say that they can help you to complain about your mortgage, particularly if you have an endowment shortfall. According to the Financial Ombudsman Service, these companies do not get better outcomes than individuals complaining. Bear in mind that you will have to pay their costs if you employ a company, usually out of any compensation you might get.
