The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) received 68,430 complaints in the final three months of 2024.

Although this was a slight drop on the 73,692 complaints reported in the second quarter of the current financial year, complaint volumes across the current financial year remain significantly higher than in 2023/24.

In the 2023/24 financial year, the FOS received 47,868 in the period between October and December (Q3), and 46,716 new cases between July and September (Q2).

The latest Q3 figures revealed that 15,956 complaints related to hire purchase motor finance, the most complained about issue, and this was followed by credit cards (10,957) and current accounts (8,830).

Across all financial products and complaint issues, the latest data showed that the FOS upheld 34% of all resolved complaints in the consumers’ favour, which is in line with the previous quarter. This figure was 35% in the same three-month period in 2023.

However, for cases brought by professional representatives, the uphold rate is 26% in the latest data, compared to 36% for cases brought directly by consumers to the FOS.

Interim chief ombudsman of the FOS, James Dipple-Johnstone, said: “Every year we help resolve tens of thousands of difficult disputes for consumers and businesses – providing impartial help in often challenging circumstances.

“We are continuing to see high volumes of motor finance commission cases and would encourage businesses to consider whether complaints are covered by the FCA’s temporary complaint handling rules.

“Ongoing legal proceedings are impacting our ability to issue final decisions in these cases, but we are putting steps in place to ensure we can resolve them as quickly as possible when we have the clarity we need.”

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