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Two-year wait for Financial Ombudsman verdicts.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/p...-verdicts.html
People who take complaints against banks and insurers to the Financial Ombudsman Service are having to wait as long as two years for a decision, it has emerged.
By Jessica Gorst-Williams 12:30PM BST 30 Mar 2011
Several readers have expressed disquiet about the time it is taking to navigate some complaints through the FOS. A few report waits of more than two years.
I have expressed concern about this to FOS, which tells me that it is currently receiving a record number of cases. It expects the number to amount to more than 170,000 by the end of this financial year.
Many relate to payment protection insurance (PPI) where the British Bankers’ Association’s legal challenge on behalf of the industry to the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the regulator, and the FOS is ongoing.
Of the rest, the FOS said it was resolving 51pc within three months and 75pc within six. It added that the number of cases being referred beyond the adjudicator stage to an ombudsman for a final decision had doubled from 10pc to 20pc in some areas. This extends the time it takes to conclude a matter.
The delayed cases I am referring to are not about PPI.
The service said some insurance companies were also digging in their heels, even on claims involving relatively small amounts. This brings it yet more work. It said the chief ombudsman recognised that some cases were taking too long and had made it a priority to ensure the service had the resources to deal with this.
The FOS said consumers should let it know if there was a genuine reason for a case to be fast-tracked – for example, if they were suffering from serious ill health or were in severe financial difficulty.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/p...-verdicts.html
People who take complaints against banks and insurers to the Financial Ombudsman Service are having to wait as long as two years for a decision, it has emerged.
By Jessica Gorst-Williams 12:30PM BST 30 Mar 2011
Several readers have expressed disquiet about the time it is taking to navigate some complaints through the FOS. A few report waits of more than two years.
I have expressed concern about this to FOS, which tells me that it is currently receiving a record number of cases. It expects the number to amount to more than 170,000 by the end of this financial year.
Many relate to payment protection insurance (PPI) where the British Bankers’ Association’s legal challenge on behalf of the industry to the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the regulator, and the FOS is ongoing.
Of the rest, the FOS said it was resolving 51pc within three months and 75pc within six. It added that the number of cases being referred beyond the adjudicator stage to an ombudsman for a final decision had doubled from 10pc to 20pc in some areas. This extends the time it takes to conclude a matter.
The delayed cases I am referring to are not about PPI.
The service said some insurance companies were also digging in their heels, even on claims involving relatively small amounts. This brings it yet more work. It said the chief ombudsman recognised that some cases were taking too long and had made it a priority to ensure the service had the resources to deal with this.
The FOS said consumers should let it know if there was a genuine reason for a case to be fast-tracked – for example, if they were suffering from serious ill health or were in severe financial difficulty.
