Ben Stafford, policy officer at AMI, welcomed the figures, which he said emphasised the value placed by consumers on services provided by mortgage intermediaries.
He said: “It’s significant that the number of mortgage complaints fell against the backdrop of a 13 per cent overall increase in cases, especially with an additional 15,000 now within FOS jurisdiction. Complaints against mortgage and GI intermediaries accounted for just 2 per cent of the FOS workload and, more noticeably still, just 2 per cent of all complaints related to banking products.
“While three times as many firms are subject to FOS than was the case in 2004, FOS itself says it expects a disproportionately small number of complaints against mortgage and GI firms.
“Many feared that statutory regulation would precipitate a hike in complaints but these figures confirm what we already know – that consumers greatly value the service provided by mortgage intermediaries.”
The annual review, from 1 April 2004 to 31 March 2005, reported the FOS dealt with a 34 per cent increase in mortgage endowment complaints. It is now receiving 1,300 new mortgage endowment complaints every week – compared to 300 a week three years ago.
Walter Merricks, chief ombudsman at the FOS, said: “We dealt with a record number of mortgage endowment disputes last year. The industry regulator, the FSA, has already found evidence of serious shortcomings by some firms in the handling of endowment complaints. So this year’s cycle of ‘re-projection’ letters will be more testing and complex than before.
“To ensure that consumers are properly served, effective communication and co-ordination is essential between firms, the FSA and the Ombudsman service. This should mean that the vast majority of consumer complaints can be dealt with by firms to the satisfaction of consumers.”
