Complaint handling expert slams Fos over free case rise
Almost a quarter of PPI claims to banks by CMCs are from people who have never had PPI in the first place.
Claims management companies are now one of the least-regulated sectors of the financial services industry, allowing them to take up company time with irrelevant and frivolous complaints, the head of a complaint software provider has argued.
Paul Clark, chief executive of Charter UK, a provider of enterprise complaint and feedback management software working closely with the banks, has questioned the Financial Ombudsman Service’s (FoS) decision to increase the number of cases before financial services have to pay a case fee from three to 25 per year.
Mr Clark claimed the move created an uneven playing field.
He said: “Whilst this decision may help to make managing complaints a little easier for the banks, it is still far off the mark to control CMCs, which now represent one of least regulated sectors of the financial services industry.
“Why do CMCs fall into a grey zone when the FSA has made it abundantly clear to the banks that they need to revise their way of dealing with complaints?”
He claimed banks have made it easier for customers to contact them directly, and the technology being used is making the end to end complaints and claims system much more streamlined.
He said: “We have always said there is a correct way of making a claim, and banks are now more prepared than they have ever been to respond and resolve them in a way that is efficient to them, and fair to their customers.”