How to complain to your bank, lender or card provider

If you’re unhappy, you can complain. Even if it's a small problem, ask your provider to fix it.  

This guide covers mistakes or problems caused by financial companies, such as: 

• banks and building societies 
• credit unions
• savings providers
• credit card and loan companies
• investment firms.

For help with other issues, see: 

• How to sort a problem with a purchase – if an item doesn’t arrive or is faulty 
• Dealing with pension problems and making a complaint 
• Claiming compensation if you’ve been mis-sold 
  
• How to find lost bank accounts, pensions and Premium Bonds

Avoid claims management companies – they’ll usually take a large chunk of any compensation you receive. Instead, follow the steps below yourself and complain for free.

Mistakes happen, so the first step is to tell your provider about the problem. All financial firms will have a customer services team you can contact, usually by live chat, phone, email and post.  

Tell them: 

• what happened 
• why you’re unhappy, and 
  
• what they can do to fix things.  
  

If you can’t agree on a good outcome, ask to make a formal complaint. This usually means your problem is sent to a special team. 

Keep a record of all the communication you make – it’s better to put everything in writing rather than speaking on the phone. 

They then have up to eight weeks to: 

• investigate 
  
• respond with a resolution – for example, they might offer to fix the issue and pay you compensation.  
  

You can normally choose to accept this or provide more information if you don’t think it’s fair. You’ll then be sent a ‘final response’, which is your provider’s final offer.

If you’re unhappy with the outcome of your complaint, you can take it further. The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) will look at your case and decide if your provider needs to do more to resolve things. 

You can complain to the FOS if: 

• it’s been less than six months since your provider’s final response, or 
  
• the firm hasn’t sent a final response within eight weeks. 
  

It usually needs to be within six years of the problem first happening. If you weren’t aware of the issue when it started, you might have longer.

The FOS complaints checkerOpens in a new window will show if they’ll accept your complaint.  

Your case will be investigated to decide if the company has acted in a fair and reasonable way, or whether they need to do more to put things right. 

Here’s how the process works: 

1. Your complaint and paperwork are reviewed by a case handler. 
   
2. A decision is made on whether your provider: 
   
   1. needs to do more, with a recommendation of what to do 
      
   2. has done enough – your complaint has been handled fairly. 
      
3. If you and the provider both agree, any recommendations are followed and the process ends. 
   
4. If either of you disagree, the case can be referred to an Ombudsman. 
   
5. A final decision is then made, either: 
   
   1. what your provider needs to do to resolve things 
      
   2. your provider has handled your complaint fairly. 
      

If you accept the decision, your provider must do what the Ombudsman has said.

If the FOS sides with the company, this is usually where a claim ends – you could choose to go to court, but this is expensive and you might not win.