The number of mortgage-related complaints referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service has risen by 25 per cent, figures from Fos have revealed.
According to the data, mortgage complaints rose from 9,537 over the year to 31 March 2012 to 11,920 to the end of March 2013. This followed an increase of 35 per cent the previous year.
The 140-page report from Fos said: “In many cases involving interest-only mortgages, consumers told us the main problem was that their financial circumstances had changed.”
Other consumers were concerned that their endowments had not performed as well as they had hoped – the number of related complaints rose to 4,657 from 3,267 in 2012.
Adviser view
Jeff Lewis, director of Edinburgh-based Robson Macintosh, said: “There is a claims culture and the PPI scandal has something to do with an increase in claims.
“Advisers are taking everything extremely seriously, whether our advice is relating to objectives, knowing our client, treating customers fairly, assessing attitude to risk or capacity for loss.
“I think the problem is that advisers are being judged on rules that we have today rolling back 15 years. We always feel ‘what is the next thing?’ Will the recommendations we make today be as watertight in 10 years’ time?
“With hindsight, endowments may not have been as good value for money as some people had hoped, but people do need to review their products over time, and no adviser could know that providers would be cutting bonus rates.”
Industry view
Georgina Smith, managing director of Stonehaven, said: “Older homeowners with interest-only mortgages, who have an underperforming endowment or who do not have sufficient savings, face a worrying future.”
