Financial difficulties

Being unable to pay money you owe can be really worrying. Money worries might arise because of something entirely outside your control, such as unemployment or illness. It’s also completely understandable to be anxious about talking about the problems you're having.

If you’re in this situation, speak to your lender as soon as you can. That way, you have the chance to agree an approach that works for you both. This can help you avoid making a bad situation even worse.

Your lender should listen to you and treat you fairly. There are rules and approaches they’re expected to follow to help you. 

Some of the complaints we’ve received from consumers include: 

• I’m struggling to make my payments and my lender isn’t helping me
• I’m being treated harshly or unfairly by my lender
• I’m being charged more for going over my limit
• My lender has made my financial situation worse
• My lender won’t accept what I’m telling them I can pay
• I’m unhappy with what my lender has offered to do

Most of the complaints we see are about:

• whether people feel their lender is doing enough to help them
• if the lender has made things worse by restructuring their borrowing
• if the lender has added interest or other charges
• if the lender isn't being sympathetic to their situation

If you are in financial difficulty, talk to your lender first. They need to work with you constructively to help you reach a solution.

If you can’t reach an agreement, and you’re unhappy with your lender’s response, then you should make a formal complaint to them. This will give them the chance to put things right.

They have to give you their final response within eight weeks for most types of complaint. If you’re unhappy with their response, or if they fail to get back to you, you can get in touch with us.

Find out more about how to complain. 

In the same way as for other types of complaint, when a consumer contacts us about financial difficulties we’ll ask:

• Did the business do everything it was required to do?
• And if they didn’t, have you, as their customer, lost out as a result?

Our answer to a complaint will reflect what’s fair and reasonable in the circumstances. And in considering what’s fair and reasonable, we’ll consider relevant law and regulation, regulators’ rules, guidance and standards, codes of practice, and what we consider to be good industry practice at the time.

When looking at a complaint, we’d expect to see that a lender responded positively and sympathetically to a borrower in financial difficulties.

If we decide you’ve been treated unfairly, or that the business has made a mistake, we’ll ask them to put things right. Our general approach is that you should be put back in the position they would have been in if the problem hadn’t happened. We may also ask the business to compensate you for any distress or inconvenience you’ve experienced as a result of the problem.

The exact details of how we’ll ask the business to put things right will depend on the nature of the complaint, and how you lost out.

If you’re worried about money and finding it difficult to know where to start, the government-backed MoneyHelper  service can help you find a way forward. Whether it’s living on a squeezed income, working out how to prioritise your bills and payments, or access to free, expert debt advice, they can help you take the first step towards getting on top of things.

StepChange Debt Charity offers free, flexible debt advice that is based on a comprehensive assessment of your situation, and provides practical help and support for however long it’s needed.

If you’re a financial business looking for information to help you resolve complaints, detailed information about financial difficulties complaints can be found in the business section of our website.