Banking and credit card complaints rise 21.8%

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently published data showing that financial services firms received over 2.1 million new complaints in the first half of 2015. 

While overall complaints decreased by 2.1 per cent compared to the previous six months, this was driven by a fall of 16.6 per cent in Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) complaints. If PPI complaints are excluded, there is an increase of 11.6 per cent, resulting in over 1.2 million complaints. 

The increase was mostly affected by a rise of 21.8 per cent in banking and credit card complaints, specifically around the advising, selling and arranging of these products. 

The FCA’s director of strategy and competition, Christopher Woolard, said: "While the ongoing fall in PPI complaints is welcome, this is the second half-year running that we have seen complaints about banking products rise. It is clear that firms need to look at the causes for this rise and where necessary take action to address the causes of the trend."

The FCA is making steps to improve this, and from April 2016 opt-out selling will be banned across all financial services. This is predominantly aimed at the insurance industry, which often includes opt-out products within its policies without notifying customers that the product is optional.

These new rules from the FCA aim to ensure that customers aren't getting over-charged, and that they are continuously getting the products and services that they need.