Alison Hoyland, communications manager at FOS, explained that with the introduction of FSA regulation more cases are expected but that a figure of 20,000 was hugely excessive, especially taken into account that an independently-run arbitration scheme under the MCCB Mortgage Code only received around 100 over the past year.
Hoyland said: “20,000 is a figure that we do not recognise in any way, shape or form. We have no idea where such a figure has come from. We do expect regulation to increase the number of complaints but we are still expecting less than 1,000 over the course of the year.”
Brad Baker, communications manager at the MCCB, confirmed that the arbitration scheme had received roughly 100 complaints over the year. He accepted that there could be an increase when the FOS took over but questioned whether it would be significant.
He said: “Historically when an arbitration scheme is passed over to the FOS, numbers have increased but the level suggested is very high.”
Rob Clifford, managing director at Mortgageforce, agreed that the figure quoted in the press was excessive: He commented “When it comes to pure mortgage complaints I would be astounded if the figures were much different to the 100 or so reported last year.”
