How to complain to your bank so it actually goes somewhere

Most people who are unhappy with their bank telephone it, get nowhere, and stop. That is understandable, and it is also the point at which the process is designed to lose you.

A written complaint does three things a phone call does not: it creates a record, it starts the eight-week clock, and it preserves your route to the Financial Ombudsman.

The eight-week rule

When you complain to a regulated firm it must issue a final response within eight weeks. If it does not, or if you are unhappy with the response, you can refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service free of charge.

You have six months from the date of the final response to make that referral, and that deadline is strict.

What to put in the letter

1. Who you are. Name, address, account or card number.
2. What happened. Dates, amounts and what was said, in order. Keep it factual.
3. What went wrong. The specific failing, not general dissatisfaction.
4. What you want. A number, and what it is made up of.
5. The sentence people leave out. "Please treat this as a formal complaint and issue a final response letter."

That last line matters. Without it, firms often log the contact as a query rather than a complaint, and the eight-week clock never starts.

Say what you want, specifically

• The amount, itemised
• Interest on money you were without
• Any consequential costs you incurred as a result
• Compensation for distress and inconvenience, if the handling caused genuine hardship

Tone

Firm, factual and unemotional works better than angry, not because your anger is unjustified, but because a calm letter is harder to dismiss and easier for a sympathetic case handler to escalate.

Avoid legal-sounding language you are not sure of. A clear account of what happened beats a badly-aimed statutory reference.

Cite the specific rule where you can

• Unauthorised payments. the bank must prove you authorised it
• Continuous payment authorities. a bank must act on your instruction to cancel
• Section 75. the cash price test, not the card payment amount
• APP fraud. reimbursement is the default and refusal requires justification

Send it properly

Use the firm's published complaints address, which is usually different from customer services. Send by post with proof of posting, or by email keeping the sent copy. Note the date and diarise eight weeks.

When the final response arrives

Read what it actually says rather than the conclusion. Has the firm addressed your specific points, or restated its position? Has it evidenced its assertions or merely made them?

A final response that does not engage with your central argument is a strong candidate for referral, and Ombudsman decisions frequently turn on exactly that.

Then the Ombudsman

Free, independent, and you do not need a claims company. Our free guide explains what to include and how to structure it.

If you would rather someone else did it, that is what we are for. But read the guide first and decide with the facts in front of you.