Bank asking dodgy questions

Undisputedtruth

Band7 said:

The FCA does not deal with consumer complaints.

No one here have said FCA deals with consumer complaints.

Bee175

A couple of people have suggested that the ombudsman will not give advice. You are absolutely right.

I finally received a reply yesterday saying that they cannot give advice.

They advised me to start complaining in writing to the bank, and once a correspondence file has built up, they can then look at the issue and judge accordingly.

I believe there are people out there with much more pressing issues than this, so I'm not going to help clog the works of the ombudsman with my problems, and frankly, I haven't the enthusiasm to do so.

Thanks again to all those that commented. It's all been very interesting.

eskbanker

Bee175 said:

A couple of people have suggested that the ombudsman will not give advice. You are absolutely right.

I finally received a reply yesterday saying that they cannot give advice.

They advised me to start complaining in writing to the bank, and once a correspondence file has built up, they can then look at the issue and judge accordingly.

Yes, that's how they work, their service is all about reviewing complaints that have already been through an institution's formal complaints process and warrant escalation to an independent body for review, rather than offering ad hoc advice or guidance:

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/how-to-complain

Undisputedtruth

@Bee175

I think you should put in a complaint. Obviously, you have felt aggrieved about the bank's action. This aggrievance will always be on your mind. Doing nothing will not remove those negative thoughts and you will never know if you are personally flagged as a person of interest for future transactions.

However, a simple complaint in a form of bullet points may suffice:

• What was the basis for payment flagged for further actions
• What specific part of the Bank's policies allowed staff to ask for date of birth belonging to a third party
• Your spiel about the absurdity of providing a third party's date of birth and being held to ransom for the payment
• The inconvenience of returning the payment to the sender

I have won about £900 of compensation through a number of complaints to my bank. Not one of them has been escalated to the FOS. I wouldn't worry about clogging up the system for the FOS and you are helping other people who have experienced the same issue.

Hope this helps.