Complaints policy

You can lodge your complaint by telephone, letter or email.

We will make every effort to resolve your concerns over the telephone. If we are able to resolve your complaint within three working days of receipt, we will consider the complaint closed. You will be issued with written confirmation that your complaint has been closed.

If we are unable to resolve your complaint within three working days, perhaps due to the complexity of the issues you have raised, we will follow the process as detailed below.

We will send you a written acknowledgement promptly, usually within 5 working days. The matter(s) raised will then be investigated by a member of our Compliance Department who will carry out a full investigation into the matters you have raised.

Once the investigation is concluded a full written response will be provided to you within 8 weeks of receiving your complaint. It will detail our investigation into the matters you have raised. We will ensure the correspondence is in clear English.

If we fail to provide a final response within 8 weeks of receiving your complaint, we will write to you again, detailing when we anticipate we will respond. You may be entitled to refer your complaint directly to the Financial Ombudsman Service at this point.

If you are not fully satisfied with the final response you may be entitled to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. We will provide you with details of the Financial Ombudsman Service and answer any questions you might have about referring your complaint to them. If you wish to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service you will need to do so within six months of the date of our final response.

The Financial Ombudsman Service

If we are unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction you may have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

The scheme is restricted to:

• Personal customers
• Businesses (including charities and trustees) with an annual turnover of less than £1 million.

The scheme is entirely free to use.

The Financial Ombudsman Service exists to help resolve certain complaints when our internal complaints procedure has been unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction.

The Ombudsman is also available to investigate complaints where a formal response has not been made to you within prescribed timescales.

Further information regarding the service is available from us on request. Alternatively, the Financial Ombudsman Service may be contacted directly:

The Financial Ombudsman Service
Exchange Tower
London
E14 9SR

Tel: 0800 023 4567 or 0300 123 9123
Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Web site: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Even if you have asked for your complaint to be reviewed you can still contact the Financial Ombudsman Service. Your right to complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service is independent of your right to take your complaint to the Finance & Leasing Association. You are not required to approach the Finance & Leasing Association before the Financial Ombudsman Service.