Over four in five (84%) consumers have reported no improvement in how financial providers treat them following the implementation of Consumer Duty by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) last year, Smart Money People has reported.

Consumer Duty was introduced in July 2023 in order to set out requirements for firms to follow to deliver good outcomes for their customers, while providing support to vulnerable consumers.

The firm’s study, which put questions to 2,000 people and is part of its Your Money, Your Voice campaign, also revealed that 7% of consumers report worsening levels of service in the past 12 months.

Consumers’ biggest frustrations are having no access to human support (48%), untrained staff (34%), no available phone number (32%) and an over-reliance on chatbots (24%).

Despite these grievances, just 23% of customers have left a review for their provider in the past 12 months and only 35% said they have given feedback directly to their provider in the past five years, suggesting their negative experiences not being recorded.

Personal loan and buy now, pay later customers were the least satisfied with the service they have received, with other reasons including over-reliance on live chats (30%) and poor customer communications (28%).

An additional fifth (22%) of people had expressed unempathetic staff members too.

Chief executive officer at Smart Money People, Jacqueline Dewey, said: "The FCA’s Consumer Duty guidelines are specifically designed to put the onus of consumer communications and outcomes on the provider. However, our data shows customers are not seeing the impact of these guidelines 12 months later.

"It’s particularly concerning that vulnerable customers have not seen an improvement in their experience during this time. This is why we are encouraging consumers to feedback on both good and bad experiences. Smart Money People works with financial services organisations to better understand and serve their customers, helping to drive better outcomes for both providers and their customers."

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