Consumers being 'short-changed' by financial services sector

17/09/2009

A majority of complaints being made by UK consumers to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) concern high street banks and other financial services providers, it has been revealed.

With millions of Britons already struggling with their personal finances, newly-released data shows that many are also struggling to get the services they need.

According to the latest statistics from the ombudsman, almost 70,000 complaints from consumers were made over the first half of 2009.

The FOS has now taken the step of 'naming and shaming' the worst offenders, with the body's outgoing head Walter Merricks hopeful that this could lead to an improvement in standards.

"Putting this information into the open will now give those worse-performing businesses vital encouragement to improve - which should mean fewer of their customers having to bring complaints to the ombudsman that should already have been resolved," he explained.

This comes just days after the government's consumer minister Kevin Brennan revealed that one in three UK consumers have been overcharged or experienced poor customer service on the high street over the past year.

Tags; Debt Management and Banking,

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