Quarterly complaints data: Q3 2023/24

Every three months, we share quarterly data and information on the complaints we see about financial products and services. This includes the number of enquiries and new complaints we received, as well as the proportion of complaints we resolved in favour of consumers – or ‘upheld’.

For information on the complaints we received about claims management companies (CMCs), please see our CMC quarterly data.

• Overall, we received 81,036 enquiries and 47,868 new complaints about financial products and services.
• This is an increase on the number of complaints received in the same quarter of last year, up from 41,303 new complaints in Q3 2022/23.
• On average, across financial products, we upheld 35% of the cases we resolved this quarter in favour of the consumer.
• Complaints relating to credit cards reached the highest level ever recorded in a three-month period.
• All the top five most complained about products have seen year-on-year increases, with current accounts continuing to be the most complained about financial product.

The top five most complained about products and services were:

Download the data: The top five most complained about products and services in Q3 2023/24 (XLSX 11KB)

We received 5,660 complaints about their credit cards - the highest-ever level for a three-month period. 3,086 of the complaints were about perceived unaffordable or irresponsible lending by financial firms.

This is an increase on the same period the year before. Between 1 October and 31 December 2022 there were 3,216 complaints about credit cards, of which 665 were about irresponsible or unaffordable lending.

55% of credit card complaints are about unaffordable lending

Download the data: Credit cards and unaffordable lending complaints between Q3 2014/15 and Q3 2023/24 (XLSX 11KB)

Almost three quarters of the credit card and unaffordable lending complaints in this period were brought by professional representatives, compared with just a quarter of these complaints in the same period of 2022/23.

While the use of credit cards has increased, consumer complaints show that not everyone is happy with the service they receive – in particular, people believe financial providers should have intervened over persistently high credit balances, high credit limits or provided lower interest rates.

Aside from credit cards, the other four categories in the top five most complained about products were current accounts, hire purchase (motor), car/motorcycle insurance and buildings insurance, all of which saw year-on-year increases.  

Current accounts continue to be the most complained about product with complaints up by over a quarter to 7,804 when compared to Q3 2022/23. The increase is mainly due to a rise in fraud and scam complaints. In the third quarter of this financial year the ombudsman received 4,618 fraud and scam complaints in relation to current accounts, compared to 3,768 in the same period in 2022/23.

Hire purchase (motor) is the third most complained about product with 5,419 complaints this quarter compared to 2,987 cases in the third quarter of 2022/23. Since this period, the Financial Conduct Authority announced that it is going to review historical motor finance commission arrangements and sales. As part of this, it’s paused the eight-week deadline for motor finance firms to provide a final response to consumers’ complaints.

Car/motorcycle insurance is the fourth most complained about product. Complaints are up by 50% to 4,123 compared to the third quarter in 2022/23.

Buildings insurance complaints are up by almost 30% to 1,666 complaints compared to the same period in 2022/23.

We highlighted in previous quarterly updates for this financial year that the rise in some insurance complaints is due to a number of factors including an increase in insurers delaying claim payouts, contractor availability impacting the speed of repairs, and an inability to source materials.