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Complaint publication report

The template for each publishing firm containing the complaint data we reported to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for the last six month reporting period.

Firm name

The name of the legal entity or company authorised by the FCA, which we are required to report complaint data under. A firm can incorporate a number of brands or trading names, which may be more familiar to individual customers.

Group

Term for a number of individually authorised legal entity firms, which are part of a larger financial services Group.

Brands / trading names

Trading styles that may appear to operate independently but make up part of a larger FCA authorised firm.

Period covered

The FCA complaint reporting period to which the published data relates. We report complaint data to the FCA twice a year for the periods 1st September to 28th February and 1st March to 31st August. We have 30 business days from the end of the reporting period to submit our reports.

Complaints opened

New FCA reportable complaints received during the complaint reporting period. Under the FCA's Dispute Resolution complaint handling rules (DISP), firms must report all complaints A complaint is defined as “Any oral or written expression of dissatisfaction, whether justified or not, from, or on behalf of, a person about the provision of, or failure to provide, a financial service or a redress determination, which:
-Alleges that the complainant has suffered (or may suffer) financial loss, material distress or material inconvenience; and
-Relates to an activity of that respondent, or of any other respondent with whom that respondent has some connection in marketing or providing financial services or products, which comes under the jurisdiction of the ombudsman service.

Context

Means by which we give the figures in each complaint publication report relevance so they are more useful to readers i.e. how many complaints did we receive in relation to the amount of business we undertake.

Closed within 8 weeks

Illustrates our timeliness in handling complaints. Under FCA complaint handling rules we have 8 weeks from the date we receive a complaint to provide a final response or explain why we are not yet in a position to provide response (usually complex cases).

Complaints upheld

Complaints where we find in the customer's favour.

Product Category

The six product/service groupings under which firms are required to report complaint data to the FCA. Complaints about all products and services we offer fall into to one of the following FCA categories – Banking; Home finance; General insurance and pure protection; Decumulation, life and pensions; Investments; and Credit related. See below for examples of the main product types which fall under each category. Note: These are not exhaustive.

Banking - incorporates complaints about current accounts; credit cards; unregulated loans; savings including cash ISAs (tax free individual savings accounts); and other banking products and services.

Home finance - incorporates complaints about mortgages and loans secured on property including; equity release products; impaired credit mortgages; and other regulated and non-regulated home finance products.

General insurance and pure protection - incorporates complaints about general insurance products such as buildings and contents insurance; travel insurance sold alongside holidays; private medical and pet insurance; together with protection products such as income protection; payment protection insurance and critical illness insurance.

Decumulation, life and pensions - incorporates complaints about personal pensions; free standing additional voluntary contributions (used to 'top up' pensions); investment linked annuities; mortgage endowments; savings endowments; whole of life policies and income drawdown products. Decumulation is the use of accumulated assets to fund retirement income or other income requirements.

Investments - incorporates complaints about investment bonds; stocks and shares ISAs; unit trusts; unit linked investment bonds; structured products and investment management services; portfolio management and Sharedealing.

Credit related - incorporates complaints about debt purchasing, hire purchase, home credit loan agreements, bill of sale agreements, pawn browing, high cost short term credit, other lending, credit broking, debt management activity, debt collecting and other credit related activity.