Complaint to the financial ombudsman time limit

WinTogether

Hi, the financial ombudsman’s site says you have 6 months from the time of the last correspondence to write to them.

What is the definition of the last correspondence?

I ask because, after I had an issue, months passed where I was in a battle with the bank in seek of answers. We had a lot of back and forth.

I believe the last correspondence is the date of their last letter, not when they initially said they were not prepared to help.

Any views?

Hoenir

WinTogether said:

I believe the last correspondence is the date of their last letter

Be a reasonable assumption. 

voluted

It's 6 months from the date of their final response. If they haven't sent one, it's 6 months and 8 weeks after you raised the formal complaint.

eskbanker

WinTogether said:

Hi, the financial ombudsman’s site says you have 6 months from the time of the last correspondence to write to them.

What is the definition of the last correspondence?

I ask because, after I had an issue, months passed where I was in a battle with the bank in seek of answers. We had a lot of back and forth.

I believe the last correspondence is the date of their last letter, not when they initially said they were not prepared to help.

Any views?

All the references I've seen are to the institution's "final response" rather than "last correspondence", which aren't really synonymous, but the FCA mandates that institutions clearly tell the the complainant about escalation to the FOS in their final response, so if your company advised you of the below at any stage then that would have signified a final response:

1. (d) encloses a copy of the Financial Ombudsman Service's standard explanatory leaflet;
2. (da) provides the website address of the Financial Ombudsman Service;
3. (e) informs the complainant that if he remains dissatisfied with the respondent's response, he may now refer his complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service;

https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/DISP/1/6.html#D656

The only way to find out for your specific circumstances though would be to escalate to FOS and see if they accept it or time-bar it....

Ergates

WinTogether said:

Hi, the financial ombudsman’s site says you have 6 months from the time of the last correspondence to write to them.

What is the definition of the last correspondence?

I ask because, after I had an issue, months passed where I was in a battle with the bank in seek of answers. We had a lot of back and forth.

I believe the last correspondence is the date of their last letter, not when they initially said they were not prepared to help.

Any views?

It would be from the point at which they give their final answer.   If you went back to them again, and they responded with (words to the effect of):  "We've already given you our final answer", then that wouldn't reset the clock.

DullGreyGuy

WinTogether said:

Hi, the financial ombudsman’s site says you have 6 months from the time of the last correspondence to write to them.

What is the definition of the last correspondence?

I ask because, after I had an issue, months passed where I was in a battle with the bank in seek of answers. We had a lot of back and forth.

I believe the last correspondence is the date of their last letter, not when they initially said they were not prepared to help.

Any views?

As long as it is properly constructed the 6 months would be from the date of the final response. Given you mention its a bank not some small family firm who may not have the best advisors, then it almost certainly will have been correctly constructed and informed you of the FOS rights and the time limit.

If you timed yourself out by not accepting that the final response was final then submit a complaint to the FOS by all means but dont be surprised if they reject it as being too late.

WinTogether

DullGreyGuy said:

WinTogether said:

Hi, the financial ombudsman’s site says you have 6 months from the time of the last correspondence to write to them.

What is the definition of the last correspondence?

I ask because, after I had an issue, months passed where I was in a battle with the bank in seek of answers. We had a lot of back and forth.

I believe the last correspondence is the date of their last letter, not when they initially said they were not prepared to help.

Any views?

As long as it is properly constructed the 6 months would be from the date of the final response. Given you mention its a bank not some small family firm who may not have the best advisors, then it almost certainly will have been correctly constructed and informed you of the FOS rights and the time limit.

If you timed yourself out by not accepting that the final response was final then submit a complaint to the FOS by all means but dont be surprised if they reject it as being too late.

The bank’s response was wholly unsatisfactory, which is why I was in seek of more answers. They delayed their response (ignored me for ages) and wrote to me a week or so after the 6 months were up. Filthy tactics from Barclays.

eskbanker

WinTogether said:

The bank’s response was wholly unsatisfactory, which is why I was in seek of more answers. They delayed their response (ignored me for ages) and wrote to me a week or so after the 6 months were up. Filthy tactics from Barclays.

That sounds like they did issue a final response more than six months ago then - to what extent did they make it clear that they wouldn't enter into further discussion and that your only option was to take it to FOS?

WinTogether

eskbanker said:

WinTogether said:

The bank’s response was wholly unsatisfactory, which is why I was in seek of more answers. They delayed their response (ignored me for ages) and wrote to me a week or so after the 6 months were up. Filthy tactics from Barclays.

That sounds like they did issue a final response more than six months ago then - to what extent did they make it clear that they wouldn't enter into further discussion and that your only option was to take it to FOS?

After they shut my account down with no notice, they did indeed gave me a date from which I need to complain the FOS. But post that, the customer relations team were still communicating with me and passing me around in an effort to answer the questions I was seeking answers to.

Rather than just run straight to the FOS, I was first attempting to to sort the issue out myself. Hence, for me it seemed natural to take their last letter as the reference for the “last correspondence”.

eskbanker

WinTogether said:

eskbanker said:

WinTogether said:

The bank’s response was wholly unsatisfactory, which is why I was in seek of more answers. They delayed their response (ignored me for ages) and wrote to me a week or so after the 6 months were up. Filthy tactics from Barclays.

That sounds like they did issue a final response more than six months ago then - to what extent did they make it clear that they wouldn't enter into further discussion and that your only option was to take it to FOS?

After they shut my account down with no notice, they did indeed gave me a date from which I need to complain the FOS. But post that, the customer relations team were still communicating with me and passing me around in an effort to answer the questions I was seeking answers to.

Rather than just run straight to the FOS, I was first attempting to to sort the issue out myself. Hence, for me it seemed natural to take their last letter as the reference for the “last correspondence”.

But where are you quoting "last correspondence" from, as opposed to "final response", a defined term with specific meaning to the various authorities?

If they closed an account without notice, that usually signifies something fairly serious and AML legislation would often prevent them from discussing details, but if they advised you of the window within which you'd need to go to FOS, were you under the impression that continuing to ask them questions would extend this?

PHK

WinTogether said:

eskbanker said:

WinTogether said:

The bank’s response was wholly unsatisfactory, which is why I was in seek of more answers. They delayed their response (ignored me for ages) and wrote to me a week or so after the 6 months were up. Filthy tactics from Barclays.

That sounds like they did issue a final response more than six months ago then - to what extent did they make it clear that they wouldn't enter into further discussion and that your only option was to take it to FOS?

After they shut my account down with no notice, they did indeed gave me a date from which I need to complain the FOS. But post that, the customer relations team were still communicating with me and passing me around in an effort to answer the questions I was seeking answers to.

Rather than just run straight to the FOS, I was first attempting to to sort the issue out myself. Hence, for me it seemed natural to take their last letter as the reference for the “last correspondence”.

This was a very poor choice of action on your part. Once you received the final decision with rights to approach the FOS you should have taken it. 

I don’t know where you are getting the phrase “last correspondence” from. It’s not one the FOS uses. 

Ultinately, only the FOS can make a decision if you’ve brought your complaint to them in time. 

My own view is that they’ll say you didn’t have a reasonable excuse because you were clearly able to approach them (because you continued to contact the firm)