The Financial Conduct Authority has published its latest complaints data, revealing that once again Barclays has received the most complaints.
The data covers July to December last year, with the total number of complaints falling from 2,911,154 to 2,478,029 compared to the previous six months.
And in fairness to Barclays, it was one of the firms to see a sharp decrease in complaints; it received 309,494 complaints, a fall of 17% from the first six months of 2013.
Here are the five firms who received the most complaints across the year:
|
Firm |
Total number of new complaints |
Change from first half of 2013 |
|
Barclays Bank (part of Barclays Group) |
309,494 |
-17% |
|
Lloyds Bank (part of Lloyds Banking Group) |
256,656 |
+1% |
|
MBNA |
213,311 |
-10% |
|
Bank of Scotland (part of Lloyds Banking Group) |
181,353 |
-18% |
|
NatWest (part of Royal Bank of Scotland Group) |
175,731 |
-5% |
That top five isn’t hugely surprising, given the size of the firms involved. It’s always going to be the biggest banks and financial firms that get more complaints than smaller firms. Perhaps a more interesting figure is the percentage of complaints upheld.
Let’s take a look at the ten firms most likely to have a complaint upheld against them.
|
Firm |
Total number of new complaints |
% of complaints upheld |
|
British Gas Insurance |
31,234 |
88% |
|
Black Horse (part of Lloyds Banking Group) |
30,400 |
87% |
|
Lifestyle Services Group |
722 |
83% |
|
Skandia MultiFunds (part of Old Mutual) |
504 |
82% |
|
FirstPlus (part of Barclays Group) |
2,763 |
81% |
|
HBOS Investment Fund Managers (part of Lloyds Banking Group) |
665 |
81% |
|
Lloyds Bank (part of Lloyds Banking Group) |
256,656 |
80% |
|
Financial Administration Services (part of Fidelity Group) |
1,615 |
79% |
|
Domestic & General |
10,095 |
78% |
|
Coutts & Co (part of Royal Bank of Scotland Group) |
1,179 |
76% |
What we are complaining about
So what are the things that we are most likely to be complaining about?
Perhaps it should be no surprise that payment protection insurance (PPI) continues to dominate new complaints. It was responsible for a whopping 1,390,756 new complaints in the second half of 2013, though this actually represents a fall of 22% on the first half of the year.
[SPOTLIGHT]After that comes other general insurance products at 321,812 new complaints (up 3%), current accounts with 303,110 new complaints (up 8%), credit cards with 140,829 new complaints (down 14%) and savings/other banking products, with 82,353 new complaints (down 16%).
Unfortunately, the FCA doesn’t break down complaints by specific areas; instead PPI falls within the General Insurance and Pure Protection grouping, while current accounts, credit cards and savings all fall within the Banking grouping.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the worst offenders in each area in terms of both number of new complaints and the percentage of complaints upheld.
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Banking
Most complaints
|
Firm |
Total number of new complaints |
|
Santander |
107,724 |
|
Barclays Bank (part of Barclays Group) |
80,067 |
|
NatWest (part of Royal Bank of Scotland Group) |
68,585 |
|
HSBC |
58,929 |
|
Lloyds Bank (part of Lloyds Banking Group) |
36,933 |
% of complaints upheld
|
Firm |
Total number of new complaints |
% of complaints upheld |
|
Volkswagen Financial Services |
6,528 |
89% |
|
Aviva Life Services (part of Aviva plc) |
9 |
83% |
|
Coutts & Co (part of Royal Bank of Scotland Group) |
1,019 |
78% |
|
NatWest (part of Royal Bank of Scotland Group) |
68,585 |
72% |
|
Bank of Scotland (part of Lloyds Banking Group) |
30,247 |
71% |
Volkswagen Financial Services tops the percentage of complaints upheld table, with a whopping 89% of cases concluded in favour of the complainant. While Aviva received just nine complaints, it was generally found to be in the wrong.
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Home finance (mortgages and equity release)
Most complaints
|
Firm |
Total number of new complaints |
|
Bank of Scotland (part of Lloyds Banking Group) |
15,075 |
|
Santander |
12,257 |
|
Nationwide Building Society |
5,236 |
|
Cheltenham & Gloucester (part of Lloyds Banking Group) |
4.676 |
|
Barclays Bank (part of Barclays Group) |
4,503 |
% of complaints upheld
|
Firm |
Total number of new complaints |
% of complaints upheld |
|
Ulster Bank (part of Royal Bank of Scotland Group) |
133 |
82% |
|
NatWest (part of Royal Bank of Scotland Group) |
3,511 |
79% |
|
Cheltenham & Gloucester (part of Lloyds Banking Group) |
4.676 |
77% |
|
Royal Bank of Scotland (part of Royal Bank of Scotland Group) |
1,938 |
77% |
|
Sainsbury’s Bank |
22 |
74% |
Not such good results here for the Royal Bank of Scotland Group. While none of its brands feature in the most complaints table, three of the five in the percentage of upheld complaints table are part of its group
General insurance and pure protection (includes PPI)
Most complaints
|
Firm |
Total number of new complaints |
|
Barclays Bank (part of Barclays Group) |
222,946 |
|
Lloyds Bank (part of Lloyds Banking Group) |
217,277 |
|
MBNA |
203,421 |
|
Bank of Scotland (part of Lloyds Banking Group) |
133,850 |
|
NatWest (part of Royal Bank of Scotland Group) |
102,615 |
% of complaints upheld
|
Firm |
Total number of new complaints |
% of complaints upheld |
|
Coutts & Co (part of Royal Bank of Scotland Group) |
2 |
100% |
|
Sainsbury’s Bank |
73 |
96% |
|
Clydesdale Financial Services (part of Barclays Group) |
74 |
94% |
|
FirstPlus (part of Barclays Group) |
2,209 |
92% |
|
Black Horse (part of Lloyds Banking Group) |
29,732 |
89% |
Coutts & Co is the first firm we’ve seen where 100% of complaints were upheld, though as it received just two complaints that’s perhaps not too surprising. Barclays Group has a brand feature in both tables.
Decumulation, life and pensions
Most complaints
|
Firm |
Total number of new complaints |
|
Prudential |
6,391 |
|
Friends Life (part of Friends Life Group) |
6,219 |
|
Phoenix Life (part of Phoenix Group) |
5,142 |
|
Aviva Life Services (part of Aviva plc) |
4,458 |
|
Royal London Mutual Insurance (part of Royal London Group) |
3,605 |
% of complaints upheld
| Firm | Total number of new complaints | % of complaints upheld |
| Coutts & Co | 6 | 100% |
| AXA Wealth Services Limited | 16 | 86% |
| AXA Wealth Limited | 2 | 83% |
| HBOS Investment Fund Managers Limited | 16 | 81% |
| Legal & General (Portfolio Management Services) Ltd | 14 | 77% |
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Investments
Most complaints
|
Firm |
Total number of new complaints |
|
Hargreaves Lansdown Asset Management |
3,173 |
|
Barclays Stockbrokers (part of Barclays Group) |
1,799 |
|
Santander |
1,791 |
|
Financial Administration Services (part of Fidelity Group) |
1,540 |
|
HSBC Bank |
1,480 |
% of complaints upheld
|
Firm |
Total number of new complaints |
% of complaints upheld |
|
Guardian Assurance |
4 |
100% |
|
Citibank International (part of Citi-EMEA Group) |
21 |
88% |
|
Bank of Scotland (part of Lloyds Banking Group) |
1,207 |
82% |
|
Skandia MultiFunds (part of Old Mutual) |
504 |
82% |
|
HBOS Investment Fund Managers (part of Lloyds Banking Group) |
649 |
81% |
More on banking and consumer rights:
The most successful PPI complaints
How to claim your PPI compensation
How to complain about your energy supplier
How to complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service
| HBOS Investment Fund Managers Limited |