Complaining about a bank or building society

If something has gone wrong with your bank or building society account, the process for putting it right has a fixed shape. You complain to the business first. It has 15 days to investigate and give a final response if the complaint is about payments, and eight weeks for anything else¹. If it does not reply in time, or you are unhappy with its answer, you can take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is free to use, within six months of the final response². The ombudsman can tell the business to refund money, correct mistakes and pay compensation, up to a limit of £455,000 for complaints referred on or after 1 April 2026³.

The ombudsman describes itself as "a free, informal alternative to the courts with a duty to resolve financial complaints based on what we think is fair and reasonable"⁴. It can help individual or joint consumers of a financial business that provides services or products in the UK, regardless of nationality or where they live⁵. You do not need a lawyer, and you do not need to pay anyone to represent you².

Start with the bank: it has eight weeks to reply

The first step is always to raise the problem with the business itself. MoneyHelper's guidance on current accounts sets out the sequence: contact the bank's customer services first, then make a formal complaint if that does not resolve it, then take the complaint to the free Financial Ombudsman Service if you still do not agree¹. The ombudsman will normally only look at a complaint after the business has had the chance to deal with it⁹.

The reason for this order is practical. Most complaints are settled at this stage without ever reaching the ombudsman, and the bank's final response letter is what opens the way to escalation. nidirect's guidance for bank disputes in Northern Ireland is to give the bank at least eight weeks to try to resolve the complaint¹⁰. After that, the bank sends a final decision letter explaining how the Financial Ombudsman Service can be contacted¹⁰.

If eight weeks pass and no final letter arrives, you do not have to keep waiting. nidirect notes that if you do not receive a final letter within eight weeks and you do not want to give the bank more time, you can contact the ombudsman for a complaints form¹⁰. The same rule appears across the ombudsman's own guidance: if the business does not send a final response letter within eight weeks, or you are unhappy with its response, you can bring the complaint to the ombudsman¹¹.

The eight-week rule is explained in more detail on its own page, and the general process for complaining to any financial firm is covered in how to complain to a financial firm.

What you can complain about: accounts, payments, lending and scams

The ombudsman's scope over banking is wide. Its banking and payments guidance lists the services covered: current accounts, savings accounts, direct debits, money transfers, electronic payment platforms, cheques and banker's drafts⁸. The issues it sees include account closures, disputed transactions, IT failures, and problems with switching services⁸.

Its easy-read leaflet for consumers summarises the ground it covers: "We can help with complaints about: bank accounts and bank cards; insurance for your home, car or when you travel to another country; problems with loans"¹². On the lending side, its consumer credit guidance covers complaints about payday loans, the affordability of lending, being unhappy with the quality of goods bought or hired with credit, and other types of lending including mortgages¹³. Complaints that a lender lent money the borrower could not afford are handled under its unaffordable lending guidance¹⁴, and mortgage complaints include unfair arrears charges, refusal of concessions such as a temporary switch to interest-only, unfair repossession attempts, and harassment about arrears¹⁵.

Common banking complaint types include:

• Accounts: closures, disputed transactions, problems with switching⁸
• IT failures: systems going down, payments not processing¹⁶
• Regular payments: direct debits and standing orders going wrong, and the ombudsman may ask the business to refund unauthorised payments, refund charges and interest, compensate for money lost, and pay for distress or inconvenience¹⁷
• Lending: affordability, arrears charges, repossession conduct¹⁴
• Scams: how the bank handled a scam involving unauthorised payments, stolen details or identity theft¹⁸
• Gambling-related harm: complaints involving gambling transactions are within scope⁹

Some complaints route through other bodies first. Where a credit broker receives a complaint within the CONRED scheme, it must forward the complaint to the lender and tell the consumer it has been forwarded¹⁹. For car finance, the FCA publishes a list of lenders with their complaint forms and a template complaint letter you can fill in and send²⁰. If a bank refuses your application for a basic bank account, it must tell you in writing and free of charge why, how to complain to it, and that you can complain to the ombudsman²¹; government figures confirm refused applicants must be told how to complain to the institution and the ombudsman, with contact details²².

How to make a formal complaint and what to include

A formal complaint is simply you putting the problem in writing, clearly, so the bank has to treat it under its complaints process and the clock starts. MoneyHelper's guidance on opening, switching and closing accounts describes the step: make a formal complaint, and the bank has eight weeks to investigate and give a final response⁶. For joint accounts, the same route applies: complain to customer services, then make a formal complaint, then go to the free ombudsman²³.

What to include:

1. Your details: name, address, account or reference details.
2. What happened: dates, amounts, and what went wrong, in order.
3. What you have already done: calls or visits to the bank, and any reference numbers.
4. What you want: a refund, a correction, an apology, or compensation.
5. Evidence: statements, letters, screenshots, and records of contact.

Keep copies of everything you send. If the complaint involves a scam, the ombudsman advises keeping records of all contact and correspondence between you and the scammer¹⁸. MoneyHelper's online shopping guidance adds that your bank will investigate and let you know the outcome within eight weeks²⁴.

The ombudsman accepts complaints through its complaint form, and if you are considering using AI to help complete it, it asks you to read its guidelines on using AI before you start²⁵. Its guidelines are: avoid entering personal information you would not want shared, such as health or banking information; only use AI to help you organise information or put it clearly; and check the resulting text carefully².

15 days or eight weeks: how long the bank has to respond

The deadline depends on what the complaint is about. MoneyHelper's guidance is consistent across its pages: "they have 15 days to investigate and give a final response if the complaint is related to payments. If it's about anything else, they have eight weeks"¹. The ombudsman's own materials confirm the 15-day rule for payments complaints: businesses "must get back to you within 15 days"¹⁸, and for scam complaints banks and payment providers "should investigate what's happened and respond within 15 days"²⁷.

The eight-week period is a ceiling, not a target. The ombudsman's general rule is that "For most complaints, a business has up to 8 weeks to consider a complaint"². When the business finishes, its final response will include the details of the outcome and how to take your complaint further if you remain unhappy².

If the deadline passes with no final response, you have a choice: give the bank more time, or go straight to the ombudsman¹⁰. The eight-week rule page covers this trigger point in detail.

Taking it to the Financial Ombudsman Service: free, within six months

The ombudsman's service is free⁸. Its eligibility test is simple: it can help if you have made a complaint to the financial business and you are not happy with their answer¹². It can usually help individual or joint consumers of a financial business that provides services or products in the UK, regardless of nationality or where they live⁵. One limit worth noting for trustees: for complaints about acts or omissions before 1 April 2019, a trust's net asset value must have been less than £1 million⁵.

The timing rule matters. The ombudsman states you "will need to make a complaint to us within 6 months from the date on your final response"². Its formal wording, unchanged since 2004, is that "the complaint must be referred to us within six months of any final response letter from the bank or building society"²⁸. The two routes to the ombudsman are therefore:

1. The bank sends a final response and you are unhappy with it: six months from the date of that letter².
2. Eight weeks pass with no final response: you can bring the complaint to the ombudsman without waiting¹¹.

The ombudsman's own how-to-complain guidance and its wider ombudsman time limits page set out these deadlines, and taking a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service covers the practical steps. The main Financial Ombudsman Service page explains what the service is.

How the ombudsman investigates and decides

The ombudsman decides on what is fair and reasonable, not just on the letter of the law. Its stated basis for decisions includes relevant law and regulations, the regulator's rules, guidance and standards, industry codes of practice and, where appropriate, good industry practice²⁵. It follows the Financial Conduct Authority's Dispute Resolution Rules (DISP)²⁹.

The process is inquisitorial rather than adversarial. The ombudsman considers the facts and evidence from both the business and the customer, then sets out its findings, explaining its decision and what needs to be done to put things right¹³. When it finishes investigating, "we'll tell you whether we think the business treated you fairly or not. And we'll explain how we reached our decision"³⁰. If it does not uphold the complaint, it will tell you why and explain how it reached that decision³¹.

A case is assigned to an investigator who gives an assessment, and the client must accept or reject that view by the deadline³². Businesses and consumer advisers can contact the ombudsman's Business Support Hub for information on how a complaint might be looked at and guidance on the rules¹³.

What the ombudsman asks for depends on the complaint type. In credit broking cases, for example, it typically expects to see a copy of the customer's application, which lenders the broker introduced them to, how the business made its role and legal name clear, fee details, compliance with section 155 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, the work undertaken to find a loan, and whether the customer's details were passed to another company³³. In mortgage interest rate cases where the complainant has experienced financial difficulties, it checks whether the lender carefully considered whether the borrower could afford the interest rate³⁴. In every case it applies "the regulatory and legal standards that applied at the time of the event the consumer is complaining about"¹⁵.

What the ombudsman can order: refunds, corrections and distress awards

The ombudsman's general approach to redress is restoration: "the customer should be put back in the position they would have been in if the problem hadn't happened"²⁹. If it thinks the business treated you unfairly, it will tell the business to put you back where you would have been if it had not made a mistake, and possibly make an award for distress and inconvenience⁸.

The remedies it can order include:

• Refunds: refund any payments you did not authorise, and refund charges and interest the bank has applied¹⁷
• Corrections: correct a credit file¹⁶
• Financial loss: compensate you for any money you lost¹⁷
• Distress and inconvenience: compensation for distress or inconvenience¹⁷
• Loan restructuring: where a lender says the borrower owes the wrong amount, it may order waiving or refunding interest, extra time to make missed payments, restructuring loans, or compensation for distress and inconvenience³⁵
• Interest: interest on awards, with income tax deducted at the basic rate before payment, paid directly to HMRC, with a tax deduction certificate³

Where a lender has not done enough to help a borrower in difficulty, the ombudsman may tell it to pay compensation for any distress or inconvenience³⁶. The same applies in unaffordable lending cases: "We may also ask your lender to pay you compensation if we think you experienced distress or inconvenience"¹⁴. Where a consumer lost money through wrong advice, the ombudsman tells the adviser or insurance company to put things right and may also award compensation for distress or inconvenience³⁷.

One limit on the ombudsman's power: it can recommend the business pay more than the award limit if it thinks it is fair, but the business does not have to accept that recommendation³. And although it tells businesses how to calculate compensation, it will not usually check the calculations the business makes³.

Award limit: up to £455,000, plus interest

The maximum the ombudsman can require a business to pay is £455,000, for complaints referred on or after 1 April 2026 about acts or omissions that occurred on or after 1 April 2019³. The limit has risen in steps, and older complaints carry lower limits:

Interest can be added on top of the limit. If you were awarded interest for being deprived of money because the business delayed payment, that interest payment can be awarded on top of the limit³. How the interest itself is calculated depends on when the complaint was referred: from 1 January 2026, the ombudsman typically asks businesses to use a time-weighted average of the Bank of England base rate plus one percentage point; before 1 January 2026, it typically asked for 8% simple a year³. The detail is on how much compensation the Financial Ombudsman can award.

Most bank complaints end nowhere near the limit. The ombudsman received 8,900 new complaints about current accounts between April and June 2026³⁸, and its published decisions database holds all its final decisions since 1 April 2013¹⁵, so you can read how similar cases were decided.

Scams: what the bank and the ombudsman can do

Where money has been sent to a scammer, the timing of the report to the bank matters. The Payment Systems Regulator's guidance is to contact your bank immediately to report it, as soon as you realise you have fallen victim to a scam³⁹. The ombudsman's immediate steps list is:

1. Contact your bank or payment services provider immediately¹⁸
2. Contact the police on 101¹⁸
3. Report the scam to Report Fraud¹⁸
4. Keep records of all contact and correspondence between you and the scammer¹⁸

The ombudsman covers complaints about the way a financial business has dealt with a scam involving unauthorised payments, stolen details or identity theft¹⁸. For scam complaints, banks and payment providers should investigate and respond within 15 days²⁷. Many banks have signed up to the Contingent Reimbursement Model code, and the ombudsman provides dispute resolution between banks and customers on decisions under the code as part of its consideration of the individual circumstances of a complaint⁴⁰. The wider background is on scams and fraud, and what a bank must do when a payment goes wrong is on when a payment goes wrong.

When the decision is final and what happens to court action

An ombudsman decision is not automatically binding on you. It becomes binding if you accept it, and if you accept an award made in a final decision, it is unlikely you will be able to take the business to court for more compensation later³. If you are not happy with the final answer, the ombudsman cannot help you any further, but you can take your complaint to court if you want¹².

Neither side can appeal a final decision to another ombudsman, or to court, just because they disagree with it⁴. There are time limits on taking a case to court, and these continue to run while the ombudsman handles your case³. Choosing between the two routes is covered in ombudsman or small claims court, and what to do if you disagree with a decision is on disagreeing with an ombudsman decision.

One related warning from the ombudsman's business guidance: where a business is required to send a customer a final date letter and does not, the time limit it was trying to set is not valid and the customer may have even longer to complain⁴¹.

Tax on compensation

Tax on compensation depends on what it is for. In some cases the law requires the business to deduct income tax at the basic rate from any compensation it pays you, whether or not you are a taxpayer³. If the ombudsman says a business needs to pay you interest on an award, the business should deduct income tax from it at the basic rate before paying it to you, pay that directly to HMRC, and give you a tax deduction certificate³.

The ombudsman's approach to compensation is to restore the position that would have existed had the mistake not happened, and where a business treated a customer unfairly it can also be told to make an award for distress and inconvenience³. The ombudsman sets out its findings explaining its decision and what needs to be done to put things right, considering facts and evidence from both the business and the customer³. How any tax treatment of a compensation payment works is a matter for HMRC rather than the ombudsman or the business.

Branch closures and in-person banking

You can complain about a branch closure, but the bar is high. The ombudsman's position, set out in its response to HM Treasury's Access to Banking review, is: "We would not generally consider it unreasonable for a bank to make a commercial decision to close a branch"⁴². What it does consider is whether the firm acted fairly, provided appropriate support and communication, and took account of the customer's needs⁴².

Many of the complaints it sees about reduced in-person services concern access to cash withdrawals due to ATM withdrawal limits, services only available face to face in branch such as removing a security block, verifying identification or depositing cash, and access limited to specific branches with customer advisers⁴². Those needing complex or sensitive account support are likely to be more affected by a lack of in-person banking, including individuals who lack digital skills, those with power of attorney, and those experiencing bereavement or financial difficulty⁴².

A published case study shows how these complaints can go. A customer, Dan, wanted to make a transfer at his local branch and found it closed due to a water leak, for the safety and protection of customers and staff. The bank said he could have gone to the branch in the next town, two miles away, or made the transfer using telephone or online banking, both of which he was registered for. The ombudsman did not find reason for compensation to be awarded, but noted the bank did apologise and thought that was enough⁴³.

Where to get help

Free, impartial help is available at every stage. MoneyHelper, the government-backed money guidance service, publishes the banking guidance this page draws on, covering current accounts, basic bank accounts, joint accounts and how to open, switch or close an account¹. The Financial Ombudsman Service is free to use⁸, takes complaints through its complaint form²⁵, and its Business Support Hub also answers questions from consumer advisers on how a complaint might be looked at¹³.

If a complaint is about goods or services rather than a financial product, other routes apply: Consumerline can refer a complaint to the Trading Standards Service for investigation or to the Financial Conduct Authority, which authorises lenders⁴⁴. The differences between the ombudsman and the FSCS, which compensates when a firm fails, are set out in FSCS vs Financial Ombudsman Service, and the wider landscape of schemes is on which ombudsman. The consumer protection section page brings the whole subject together.