FSA decision acts against consumer interest

Leading consumer champion BrunelFranklin.com and its bank charges compensation service conkers.co.uk have received hundreds of complaints from consumers who believe the recent FSA ruling regarding the processing of bank charges claims is unfair and acting against the consumer interest.

Many thousands of people across the UK may be disadvantaged by the FSA decision to halt bank charge refund claims until a ruling has been made. The case will not be heard until January 2008 and the final decision could take years if appealed. Brunel Franklin is calling for swift action by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) to clarify what will happen to thousands of consumers that fall into two specific categories.

These are:
1) Those who may be suffering financial hardship
2) Those whose cases have been referred to FOS for appeal, but which have been returned unlogged by FOS

Anthony M Sultan, director of BrunelFranklin.com and conkers.co.uk , said: “This is a disgraceful state of affairs and the consumer is yet again being short-changed. Customers simply don’t know what will happen, and there is a real danger that a level playing field will be impossible to re-instate at a later date.

“Firstly, consumers have a limited six month window to appeal final decisions from banks to FOS. By not logging receipt of such appeals, consumers may be deprived of their right of appeal. Secondly, whilst FOS gives very general guidance regarding hardship, it will not be drawn on giving concrete examples. In a recent case where the consumer was facing bankruptcy, FOS refused to expedite the case. Bankruptcy ensued shortly after. If this is not a case of financial hardship, what is?
”What is needed now is a clear decision on these important technical points affecting thousands of bank charges claimants. At Conkers.co.uk we have recently received hundreds of files back from FOS who refuse to even log them. (Ironically, even under the operation of the waiver granted by the FSA to the banks, the banks still need to log complaints, even if they are no longer obliged to process them until such the waiver is lifted).

Mr Sultan in criticising FOS, said: ”FOS is accountable to no one and exempt from public scrutiny due to exemptions under the Data Protection Act. We have demonstrated time and again to the Ombudsman that their decisions are inconsistent and contrary to their own rules. Being unaccountable, there is little pressure to bring to bear. Hence, many thousands of people are now caught in limbo and they may run out of time – if it sounds familiar, it’s because that is exactly what happened to millions of mis-sold endowment victims.
”The FOS shake up recommended by the Economic Competitiveness Report launched recently was long overdue,” concludes Anthony Sultan.

Media Contact: BeyondPR. Tel.: 0114 275 6996. Mob: 07930 697773. www.beyondpr.co.uk
Ref: BFL257 – FSA decision