Complete Network director, Bill Warren, said “The proposed case fee of £550.00 is very reasonable, when combined with the fact that there will be no general levy in the 2004/5 financial year. FOS has a well deserved reputation for dealing with complaints in a fair and reasonable way, and taking steps to resolve complaints before they go to the full investigation stage. Mortgage firms who have no experience the FOS should not be worried about being covered by the scheme in future, as they will get a fair hearing should any complaint get to that stage.
“The most effective way to avoid paying FOS case fees is to put in place a robust system to deal with customer complaints thoroughly and effectively as and when they happen. The Ombudsman exists to safeguard consumers from organisations that deal with their complaints ineffectively, so mortgage and GI intermediary firms who have well-managed complaints systems should not find their customers resorting to the services of FOS very often. As an effective complaint-handling procedure is a requirement for FSA authorisation, the level of complaints going as far as a full FOS investigation is likely to be low.”
