Fca finalises rules on complaints handling Insurance Age

The regulator has launched a consultation on the new measures, which include rules that will force firms to provide clear information on the interest rates on their cash savings products, as well as notifying consumers to changes in interest rates or the end of an introductory rate.

The revised rules limit the cost of calls consumers make to firms, including all post-contractual calls and all complaints calls, to a maximum “basic rate”.

The new rules will apply to FCA-regulated firms in the UK, as well as to their branches in the EEA and the EEA firms that offer their services in the UK.

However, firms are to also be allowed up to three days to resolve a complaint informally – triple the current one day target turnaround.

The FCA will also require firms to report the number of all complaints received, including those handled by the close of three business days and to publish this information.

Firms will have to report all of the complaints to the FCA.

It will add additional context, making it more informative and allowing consumers to better compare firms, it said.

If a complaint is resolved during this three-day period, firms will be required to send their customers a simpler, template message.

Complex jargon which hoodwinks people into the wrong accounts is also to be outlawed and banks and building societies will have to improve their savings switching services for those using online or mobile banking.

– You must contact the FOS within six months of receiving a final response from the firm, or the FOS may not be able to deal with your complaint.

‘We have concluded that, while there is a risk that complaints numbers at the ombudsman service may rise, as more complainants are made aware of the ombudsman service, this is unlikely to be a very significant increase, ‘ it said.

Christopher Woolard, director of strategy and competition at the FCA, said that “providers should be competing to offer the best possible deal, [and] consumers should expect the information they need to shop around to be clear and easy to understand”.

It also plans to publish information highlighting the firms which pay poor rates of interest to long-standing customers.

‘A properly resolved complaint can keep a customer happy, and protect the firm’s reputation. “But, more than that, effective complaints handling systems can act as an early warning system for firms”.

The FCA wants feedback on the proposals and is expected to confirm finalised rules later this year, with a view to the rules to coming into force in 2016.