Financial Ombudsman Vs Small Claims Court

GlassFull

Hello

If the financial ombudsman is currently looking into a dispute with your bank, can you take the bank to a small claims court in the meantime too?

Or is it one or the other?

The financial ombudsman said it will take 2 weeks to come up with a decision, but it's been over a month! We're sick of wasting time and just want this over and done with. My partner wants to start court proceedings but are we jumping the gun?

We're seeking compensation too, so is it best that the financial ombudsman looks into this? Am I right in thinking the small claims court will only issue the refund, not the compensation on top?

P.S I've asked citizens advice this question, they couldn't give me an answer and told me to call someone else. I've left a message for the financial ombudsman to see how much longer this will take but I've not had an answer!

BoGoF

Would be surprised if Ombudsman told you 2 weeks, a month is nothing.

Without knowing the facts then difficult to give any advice.

Bermonia

If you start court proceeding this will in essence cancel your complaint with FOS as court activity trumps them.

In terms of timescales I have no idea where two weeks has come from.
Once your complaint is made to FOS the business has 2-4 weeks to respond,

Once responded your complaint goes in to a queue to be allocated... depending on what it relate to the waiting times can vary dramatically,

Once allocated an adjudicator will review the complaint and possible ask for any more info evidence required before making an assessment,

Once an assessment is made (if it goes on your favour) the business has 2-4 weeks to respond,

If the business reject the assessment it will go into an ombudsman queue for a final decision - this could be anywhere from 3 weeks to 6 months plus.

waamo

A court claim will take around 6 months if you issue it. Potentially even longer so you may as well see what the Ombudsman says.

MEM62

When the banks representatives turn up in court they will explain that no settlement has been made as they are currently awaiting a decision / ruling from the ombudsman initiated at your request. How will you respond to that point? "I ran our of patience so brought the case to court" is unlikely to garnish you much favour.

You should also be aware that litigation has risks. Many cases are not as 'slam-dunk' as litigants think that they are and the court may not side with your view of the case.