Top 10 worst bank offenders
21-May-09 by Tim Moore
This month Portal Claims uncovered the top 10 worst offenders amongst the UK's banks when it comes to responding to customer complaints. These alarming results show how some of the UK's most well-known high street banks are failing to respond to customer complaint, disregarding Financial Services Authority's (FSA) recommended eight-week response time.
Between January and March 2009, we monitored the number of complaints received from customers seeking compensation on mis-sold PPI. Despite the FSA's regulative guidelines, PortalClaims.com are concerned that organisations such as the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) are failing to enforce the response time.
Lloyds, Barclays, Welcome, Black Horse and MBNA are the worst offenders with less than 20 per cent of complaints being responded to. Out of the 109 complaints submitted to Barclays, just one per cent of customers received an offer of compensation.
The top 10 offenders are:
(showing per cent of customer complaints responded to)
- Black Horse 0%
- Barclays 1%
- MBNA 3%
- Welcome 4%
- Lloyds 16%
- GE Money 21 %
- HFC 27%
- RBS 29%
- Natwest 32%
- Yorkshire Bank 35%
The findings paint a worrying picture of the delay tactics used to postpone consumers who file complaints seeking compensation. With the average claim made being £2500, banks should be working harder to satisfy their customers.
It is shocking that, despite pressure from the Financial Services Authority and the Competition Commission, the banks are still finding ways of dragging their feet. It is our view that the banks need to accept liability and respond within the timescales outlined by the FSA. Whilst we accept that banks are deluged by complaints some of the cases highlighted today are from the beginning of January in other words they have not been resolved after nearly five months. Times are tough and banks should be sympathetic to the plight of their customers.
Consumers have woken up to the inappropriate services that they have been sold and we encourage people looking to get their money back to keep challenging them. Don't accept their first offer as final - the banks will do what they can to hold onto their money but in current times, consumers need to as well.
