Using the Financial Ombudsman

smudgemanc26

Its entirely up to you, you can go through the ombudsman and complain about them not responding in the appropriate timescale and this way you wont have to pay any court fees as its free of charge, however i think the FO can take up to 8 weeks to resolve a complaint - so really its if you can wait or not or if you have the money to proceed via MCOL which might get you results quicker.

If you do go down the FO route you will need to fill in a complaint form on the FO website and send any correspondence with it which you have sent to or received from the bank.

I do know that they cannot accept faxed complaints and these have to be posted.

lvg

Hi
I recently took my complaint of unfair bank charges to the financial ombudsman and found the paperwork much simpler and the whole process very easy. I have just heard back from them and Nationwide are going to pay up!!! But it will take about six weeks for me to recieve a cheque.
If your not in a rush then i say use the financial ombudsman.

Good Luck!

jane25_2

Has anyone claimed back credit card charges through the FO?
The three cc companies that I'm claiming back from have all offered me the difference between £12 & the £20+ that they actually charged me.
I thought I read somewhere that the FO will only request the £8 or so difference from cc companies.
Can anyone help please?

techspec

I was told this too, via this or the CAG site, so i went via court against Barclaycard.

Yet, i spoke to the FOS on Friday, and was told that this was not true.

They said you can claim the FULL amount, and not just the difference..

I have now submitted a claim via the FOS for my Lloyds TSB card.

smudgemanc26

jane25 wrote: »

Has anyone claimed back credit card charges through the FO?
The three cc companies that I'm claiming back from have all offered me the difference between £12 & the £20+ that they actually charged me.
I thought I read somewhere that the FO will only request the £8 or so difference from cc companies.
Can anyone help please?

Im claiming all my cc charges through the FO as the offers i did get back from some of them werent nearly half as much as the amount i was claiming they seemed to just pluck a figure out of thin air! Thought if i go through the FO route then whatever i get more is a bonus.

Its up to you really if you can afford to pay via the MCOL route then do that but at the time i couldnt afford 4 lots of £80 so i went via the FO route and as im not in an immeadiate rush i dont mind waiting.

When i did send all my complaint forms off i received a letter of acknowledgement back from the FO within days so they do seem to be prompt in their replies.

Edinburghlass_2

techspec wrote: »

I was told this too, via this or the CAG site, so i went via court against Barclaycard.

Yet, i spoke to the FOS on Friday, and was told that this was not true.

They said you can claim the FULL amount, and not just the difference..

I have now submitted a claim via the FOS for my Lloyds TSB card.

I have seen that posted too techspec but not by anyone who has actually been down the FO route and only been awarded the difference.

In fact there is one MSE user who had a copy of a letter from the FO and the FO are challenging Egg to reveal how they work out their charges

emmab26_2

I used the FO with Lloyds it only took about 3 weeks back in April I claimed just over £4000 and got a letter stating they would refund £5039 as a gesture of goodwill. I rang the FO before I sent a letter to LLoyds and they told me who to send my complaint letter to at LLoyds and that they would also write to them telling lloyds I had a complaint, and 3 weeks later i received a letter from Lloyds, a week later the money was refunded to my account!!!:rotfl: :beer:

Picksjt

Hi all,
I am now contacting the Ombudsman, will someone plz tell me do I have to let the bank know that I am doing this? Not sure and don't want them to close my file if not contacted within 8 wks.

ThankYouAndEnjoy!

Hello

Have you already raised a concern with the Bank in writing?? - If the answer is no, then you should really give the bank the chance to deal with your concerns before you contact the FO - The Bank should provide you with a leaflet explaining how to take your concerns further.

Any complaint made to the FO will be sent to the Specialist Concerns Department within that Bank, so sooner or later they will be aware of your complaint.

IZZY01

Picksjt wrote: »

Hi all,
I am now contacting the Ombudsman, will someone plz tell me do I have to let the bank know that I am doing this? Not sure and don't want them to close my file if not contacted within 8 wks.

By the wording on your post, I take it that the bank has advised you that they will close your file if not contacted within 8 weeks. This is what I was told on my decline letter and I then just handed everything over to the FOS. You don't need to have any further contact with the bank at this stage. The FOS will contact them on your behalf. You just sit back and wait!!
Izzy