Five Questions About: Bank complaints

Are people still not happy with their banks?

Too right. This week the Financial Ombudsman Service reported that it dealt with 135,170 new complaints between January and June, up 27 per cent on the previous six months..

Crikey. What's the problem?

Once again the bulk of the claims were about mis-sold payment protection insurance. The Ombudsman said that PPI accounted for 63 per cent of new claims, nine out of 10 of which were upheld at most of the major high street banks.

Won't the banks ever get better?

Actually they do seem to be improving when it comes to dealing with complaints, judging by the upheld rate – the percentage of cases the Ombudsman finds in favour of customers. Barclays cut its upheld rate from 84 per cent to 53 per cent, HSBC halved its rate from 80 to 41 per cent while NatWest cut upheld complaints from 85 to 51 per cent.

But they didn't cut the number of claims?

No. The PPI effect meant the Ombudsman was deluged with claims this year, getting 3,000 new PPI claims alone each day.

Is it too late to claim for mis-sold PPI?

No. But you'll need to contact your bank or credit card with details before going to the Ombudsman.