Financial Ombudsman Service receives 40% more cases when compared to the same time last year

• We received more than 68,000 complaints in a three-month period
• Complaints about current accounts and credit cards continue to be at a high level
• The most complained about product this quarter was hire purchase (motor) which has risen due to complaints about motor finance commission arrangements, following Court of Appeal judgments against some lenders

We received 68,430 complaints between October and December 2024. Although, this is a slight drop on the 73,692 complaints reported in the second quarter of this financial year, complaint volumes in the current financial year remain significantly higher than in 2023/24.

In the 2023/24 financial year, we reported that we received 47,868 in the third quarter and 46,716 new cases in the second quarter (July to September).

Below is a breakdown of the last five years of quarterly data which shows the most complained about products.

Download the data: Top five most complained about products in the last five years (XLSX 11KB)

High levels of cases, particularly around mass redress issues such as motor finance commission arrangements, is one of the reasons the we recently conducted a joint Call for Input with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – seeking ways to modernise the redress framework to ensure it is fit for the future.

James Dipple-Johnstone, Interim Chief Ombudsman of the Financial Ombudsman Service, said:

Every year we help resolve tens of thousands of difficult disputes for consumers and businesses – providing impartial help in often challenging circumstances. 
We are continuing to see high volumes of motor finance commission cases and would encourage businesses to consider whether complaints are covered by the FCA’s temporary complaint handling rules. 
Ongoing legal proceedings are impacting our ability to issue final decisions in these cases, but we are putting steps in place to ensure we can resolve them as quickly as possible when we have the clarity we need.” 

While the current redress framework works well for individual complaints about specific issues, sudden and significant increases in complaints can cause firms to struggle to effectively respond, delaying any customer compensation that is due.

To improve the service provided to both consumers and businesses, we are in the process of delivering a significant transformation programme – investing in new technologies, opening new team locations, and introducing new ways of working. These changes will make the organisation more resilient to significant variations in demand.

A breakdown of today’s figures shows which products were the most complained about between October and December 2024. As a comparison, the table below also provides previously published data for the second quarter of 2024/25 and the same time in the last financial year.

Across all financial products and complaint issues the latest data set shows we upheld 34% of all resolved complaints in the consumers’ favour, which is in line with the previous quarter. It was 35% in the same three-month period in 2023.

However, for cases brought by professional representatives, the uphold rate is 26% in the latest data set, compared to 36% for cases brought directly by consumers to us.

Issues about motor finance commission have driven the increase in both hire purchase (motor) and conditional sale (motor) complaints.

We have heard from people about the following:

• they were not told the car dealer would get commission from the finance provider for arranging the finance; 
• the way someone’s car finance agreement was arranged was alleged to be unfair;
• the advice, information, or recommendation their car dealer gave them was not fair because they were influenced by the commission or fee they would get from their finance provider; and/or 
• their car dealer didn’t give them the best interest rate available.

Perceived unaffordable and/or irresponsible lending complaints made up three quarters of credit card complaints in the latest quarterly data set, compared to just over half in the same period in 2023/24. Out of the 10,957 credit card complaints, 8,221 were about unaffordable/irresponsible lending. By comparison, in between October and December 2023, consumers lodged 5,660 complaints about credit cards, of which 3,086 were about unaffordable/irresponsible lending.

In the latest data set, people submitted 8,830 current account complaints to us, compared to 7,804 complaints in the same period on 2023/24. Fraud and scams continues to be the main driver of these complaints. 

Car/motorcycle insurance continues to be the most complained about insurance product, with people submitting 3,660 complaints to us. Administration and customer service tops the list of consumers’ gripes, with people raising 759 complaints in the third quarter of this financial year about this issue.

Professional representatives

Professional representatives are continuing to bring high levels of complaints to us, particularly in relation to hire purchase (motor), credit cards and current accounts.

From April to December 2024, professional representatives accounted for around 47% of the complaints that we received, compared to just 21% in the first nine months of 2023/24.

Below is a breakdown of the top three most complained about products brought to us by professional representatives. The data is for new complaints – the numbers are rounded to the nearest hundred.

Earlier this month, we announced that we will make our funding arrangement fairer by proceeding with a proposal to charge professional representatives £250 to refer a case to us from 1 April 2025. They will receive £175 back in credit if the complaint is found in favour of the consumer they represent, reducing the charge they pay to £75.

Professional representatives will be able to bring ten cases to the service for free each financial year. After that, every subsequent case they refer will be chargeable. However, we will remain free to families and friends, charities and voluntary organisations who may be helping people with their complaint.

Notes to editors

About the data

The data in this release refers to 1 October to 31 December 2024. You can view and download the full data set.

All comparisons to Quarter 3 2023/24 refer to the published data set on our website. It was published on 1 March 2024. 

About the Financial Ombudsman Service

The Financial Ombudsman Service was set up by Parliament to resolve individual complaints between financial businesses and their customers on a fair and reasonable basis, as a free alternative to the courts. It can look into problems involving most types of money matters. It is committed to sharing insight and experience to encourage fairness and confidence in financial services.