Financial Ombudsman Service: How to Complain

The Financial Ombudsman Service can investigate complaints about a wide range of financial products and services, provided the firm involved is authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This includes:

• Bank accounts, savings accounts, and credit cards
• Mortgages and secured loans
• Personal loans and consumer credit
• Car finance and hire purchase agreements
• Insurance policies including home, motor, travel, and life insurance
• Investments, pensions, and financial advice
• Payment protection insurance (PPI)
• Buy now pay later products regulated under consumer credit law

The FOS cannot help with complaints about firms that are not FCA-regulated, or with disputes about commercial policies held by larger businesses. It also cannot investigate complaints where court proceedings have already been issued, or where the complaint is primarily about the price of a product rather than the firm's conduct.

You must complain directly to the financial firm before the FOS will accept your referral. Most financial firms have a dedicated complaints team, and FCA rules (the DISP chapter of the FCA Handbook) require them to acknowledge your complaint promptly and issue a final response within 8 weeks.

For complaints about payment services — for example a disputed card transaction or a payment that went to the wrong account — shorter deadlines apply under the Payment Services Regulations 2017: the firm should resolve the complaint within 15 business days, extendable to a maximum of 35 business days in exceptional circumstances.

If the firm upholds your complaint in full and you are satisfied with the outcome, no further action is needed. If the firm rejects your complaint, upholds it only partially, or fails to respond within 8 weeks, you can refer the matter to the FOS. The firm's final response letter must tell you about your right to go to the FOS and the deadline for doing so.

Keep copies of all correspondence with the firm, including your original complaint, their acknowledgement, any interim letters, and their final response. The FOS will ask you to provide these documents when you submit your referral.

Three separate time limits control access to the FOS, and all must be satisfied:

• 6 months from the final response. Once the firm issues its final response letter, you have 6 months to refer the complaint to the FOS. This is the limit people most often miss.
• 6 years from the event you are complaining about; or, if later,
• 3 years from when you knew — or ought reasonably to have known — that you had cause to complain.

The FOS has discretion to accept late complaints where there were exceptional circumstances, such as serious illness, so a missed deadline is worth explaining rather than assuming defeat.

Who can complain: private individuals are always eligible. So are micro-enterprises (fewer than 10 employees and turnover or balance sheet under €2 million), small businesses (annual turnover under £6.5 million and either fewer than 50 employees or a balance sheet under £5 million), small charities with annual income below £6.5 million, and small trusts. Larger businesses are outside the scheme and must use the courts or commercial dispute resolution.

The firm must also be FCA-authorised. If you dealt with an unregulated firm, the FOS cannot help — check the FCA register before you start, and be alert to clone-firm scams.

You can refer your complaint to the FOS online, by phone (0800 023 4567), or by post. The online form is the quickest method and allows you to upload supporting documents directly.

When completing your referral, you will need to provide:

• Your contact details and the firm's name
• A summary of the complaint and its impact on you
• The outcome you are seeking
• Copies of key documents (complaint letters, the firm's final response, statements, policy documents)

Frame the complaint around what the firm did wrong and what it cost you, in date order. You do not need legal language — the FOS decides cases on what is fair and reasonable in the circumstances, taking account of law, regulators' rules, and good industry practice.

The FOS will first assess whether the complaint is within its remit and may ask for additional information. It is free to you; the firm pays a case fee regardless of the outcome, which is one reason firms often settle once a referral is made.

The FOS investigation typically has two stages. First, an investigator (case handler) reviews the evidence from both sides and issues a view on the case. Many complaints end here: if both parties accept the investigator's view, the complaint is resolved. If either side disagrees, the case passes to an ombudsman for a formal, final decision. Some cases also involve a provisional decision — a draft outcome both sides can comment on before it is finalised. Treat that as your opportunity to submit anything the investigator has missed.

Timescales vary with complexity: the FOS aims to resolve most cases within months, but investment, pension, and fraud cases can take a year or more.

Outcomes the FOS can direct include:

• A refund of money lost, with interest where appropriate
• Compensation for financial loss — up to the current award limit of £455,000, a cap the FCA uprates annually
• A separate payment for distress and inconvenience
• A direction to correct your credit file, amend an account, or reinstate a policy
• A written apology

The FOS cannot fine or discipline a firm — that is the FCA's role — and it cannot tell a firm to change its prices or business model. Its job is to put you, individually, back in the position you should have been in.

An ombudsman's final decision binds the firm only if you accept it by the deadline stated in the decision. You are never bound to accept:

• If you accept, the firm must comply, and the matter is closed — you cannot then sue over the same complaint.
• If you reject the decision (or your complaint is not upheld), you remain free to bring a court claim. The ordinary limitation period for contract claims is six years, but do not delay — and take independent legal advice first, because a court applies the law strictly rather than the FOS's broader "fair and reasonable" test, and costs risks are real outside the small claims track.

Losing at the FOS does not stop you reporting the firm's conduct to the FCA, which cannot compensate you but does use complaint intelligence in its supervision and enforcement work.

Finally, if the firm has failed or gone out of business, the FOS route may be replaced by a claim to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) — the statutory fund that covers claims against failed authorised firms. Check the FSCS website to see whether your product type is protected.