How long roughly for ombudsman to be allocated to case on average?

kieran784

Hello
A capital One credit card was fraudulently opened using my details and they refused to accept my claim of fraud so I taken it to the financial ombudsman service. The adjudicator upheld my complaint that Capital One acted unfairly in not closing down the account however Capital One disagreed and asked for an ombudsman to make a final decision. Based on people’s experiences using the financial ombudsman, how long on average could it take for my complaint to be allocated to an ombudsman? Also how likely is it for the ombudsman to uphold my complaint considering the adjudicator upheld it? I’ve heard they generally agree with the adjudicator though not always.
I will appreciate any opinions or comments.
thanks 
Kieran

Sandtree

I've been waiting 6 months so far since disagreeing with the adjudicator over if a transaction was fraudulent/false advertising etc for the ombudsman to be appointed.

Historically its been about 10% of cases where the FOS ombudsman makes a "different" decision to the adjudicator. Unfortunately for both of us it is more common for an adjudicator to uphold a complaint and the ombudsman then declines it than the other way around (about a 60/40 split)

I say "different" because the stats have never been clear enough to state if its only including black and white "different decisions" - ie uphold or not - or if it also includes partial cases (eg where they say the Financial Insitute was ultimately in the right but were too poor or too slow etc and so partial compensation due) or changes to the award rather than decision

MattMattMattUK

kieran784 said:

Hello
A capital One credit card was fraudulently opened using my details and they refused to accept my claim of fraud so I taken it to the financial ombudsman service. The adjudicator upheld my complaint that Capital One acted unfairly in not closing down the account however Capital One disagreed and asked for an ombudsman to make a final decision. Based on people’s experiences using the financial ombudsman, how long on average could it take for my complaint to be allocated to an ombudsman? Also how likely is it for the ombudsman to uphold my complaint considering the adjudicator upheld it? I’ve heard they generally agree with the adjudicator though not always.
I will appreciate any opinions or comments.
thanks 
Kieran

At the moment the answer is probably that no one knows, they should have given you a timeline in their correspondence with you, but it might state the maximum. 

On what basis are they disputing your claim, eg. why do they think it was you that made the application?

kieran784

Sandtree said:

I've been waiting 6 months so far since disagreeing with the adjudicator over if a transaction was fraudulent/false advertising etc for the ombudsman to be appointed.

Historically its been about 10% of cases where the FOS ombudsman makes a "different" decision to the adjudicator. Unfortunately for both of us it is more common for an adjudicator to uphold a complaint and the ombudsman then declines it than the other way around (about a 60/40 split)

I say "different" because the stats have never been clear enough to state if its only including black and white "different decisions" - ie uphold or not - or if it also includes partial cases (eg where they say the Financial Insitute was ultimately in the right but were too poor or too slow etc and so partial compensation due) or changes to the award rather than decision

Thank you for your response. It looks like it’s going to take a while before it gets allocated then as I’ve only been waiting around a week and a half since Capital One disagreed with the adjudicator. Hopefully your case gets allocated soon and you win your case. I certainly hope the ombudsman agrees with the adjudicator but I guess it’s a long waiting game now. 

kieran784

MattMattMattUK said:

kieran784 said:

Hello
A capital One credit card was fraudulently opened using my details and they refused to accept my claim of fraud so I taken it to the financial ombudsman service. The adjudicator upheld my complaint that Capital One acted unfairly in not closing down the account however Capital One disagreed and asked for an ombudsman to make a final decision. Based on people’s experiences using the financial ombudsman, how long on average could it take for my complaint to be allocated to an ombudsman? Also how likely is it for the ombudsman to uphold my complaint considering the adjudicator upheld it? I’ve heard they generally agree with the adjudicator though not always.
I will appreciate any opinions or comments.
thanks 
Kieran

At the moment the answer is probably that no one knows, they should have given you a timeline in their correspondence with you, but it might state the maximum. 

On what basis are they disputing your claim, eg. why do they think it was you that made the application?

Unfortunately, they only told me that there’s no set timeframe as to when my case could be allocated so I am relying on other people’s experiences with them to try and estimate how long it could take with my complaint.
Capital One believes I opened the account as the account was opened at my previous address where I’m still registered on the electoral roll as I foolishly forgot to remove my details from that address. They also stated payments were made to the account which “doesn’t fit a normal pattern of fraud” however when the adjudicator investigated this, the payments were being made by direct debit from a bank which isn’t registered in my name, so the payments were also fraudulently taken and was charged back. The fact that the payments weren’t made from my own bank account helped my case and probably the main reason why she upheld my complaint. I also provided evidence that other accounts was fraudulently opened in my name and provided evidence that the other lenders had deemed them fraudulent and closed them, whilst Capital One didn’t.
I guess I just have to wait until an ombudsman is allocated and a final decision is made.

Sandtree

kieran784 said:

Sandtree said:

I've been waiting 6 months so far since disagreeing with the adjudicator over if a transaction was fraudulent/false advertising etc for the ombudsman to be appointed.

Historically its been about 10% of cases where the FOS ombudsman makes a "different" decision to the adjudicator. Unfortunately for both of us it is more common for an adjudicator to uphold a complaint and the ombudsman then declines it than the other way around (about a 60/40 split)

I say "different" because the stats have never been clear enough to state if its only including black and white "different decisions" - ie uphold or not - or if it also includes partial cases (eg where they say the Financial Insitute was ultimately in the right but were too poor or too slow etc and so partial compensation due) or changes to the award rather than decision

Thank you for your response. It looks like it’s going to take a while before it gets allocated then as I’ve only been waiting around a week and a half since Capital One disagreed with the adjudicator. Hopefully your case gets allocated soon and you win your case. I certainly hope the ombudsman agrees with the adjudicator but I guess it’s a long waiting game now. 

I've once been to an ombudsman before, was pre-covid but was shortly after the miss-selling of PPI had exploded (and before the ombudsman was separating it from other classes of insurance). Unfortunately in that case it was about 15-18 months from rejecting the adjudicator to the ombudsman's decision and so well over 2 years since the complaint was first escalated to them... in that case they didnt uphold my case but admitted issues with their process and the ombudsman themselves paid compensation commensurate to what my complaint had asked for. 

kieran784

Sandtree said:

kieran784 said:

Sandtree said:

I've been waiting 6 months so far since disagreeing with the adjudicator over if a transaction was fraudulent/false advertising etc for the ombudsman to be appointed.

Historically its been about 10% of cases where the FOS ombudsman makes a "different" decision to the adjudicator. Unfortunately for both of us it is more common for an adjudicator to uphold a complaint and the ombudsman then declines it than the other way around (about a 60/40 split)

I say "different" because the stats have never been clear enough to state if its only including black and white "different decisions" - ie uphold or not - or if it also includes partial cases (eg where they say the Financial Insitute was ultimately in the right but were too poor or too slow etc and so partial compensation due) or changes to the award rather than decision

Thank you for your response. It looks like it’s going to take a while before it gets allocated then as I’ve only been waiting around a week and a half since Capital One disagreed with the adjudicator. Hopefully your case gets allocated soon and you win your case. I certainly hope the ombudsman agrees with the adjudicator but I guess it’s a long waiting game now. 

I've once been to an ombudsman before, was pre-covid but was shortly after the miss-selling of PPI had exploded (and before the ombudsman was separating it from other classes of insurance). Unfortunately in that case it was about 15-18 months from rejecting the adjudicator to the ombudsman's decision and so well over 2 years since the complaint was first escalated to them... in that case they didnt uphold my case but admitted issues with their process and the ombudsman themselves paid compensation commensurate to what my complaint had asked for. 

To be honest, I’ve read PPI complaints are taking the longest to resolve, but I think 2 years is a really long time to wait. Now with the COVID situation, it’s going to take even longer. I certainly hope it won’t take that long for an ombudsman decision but at least I’m prepared for what’s to wait. It took 9 months to be allocated to an investigator so I think it’s going to take around another 9 months for an ombudsman to be allocated. I suppose it’s down to all the complaints they’re receiving. Glad you at least received compensation in your case in the end, the adjudicator recommended they pay me £250 compensation but the bank disagreed so hopefully when I finally get a final decision it’s upheld and I receive the £250.