We will endeavour to respond to and resolve your complaint straight away, which we consider to be within 3 business days after we received your complaint. We will send you a written acknowledgement. We may telephone you during the process to keep you up to date with our progress and you are encouraged to telephone your representative should you have any questions or queries.

The written acknowledgement will include:

• A timescale for when we will correspond further if necessary, which will be no more than 56 days from the receipt of your complaint.
• The name and contact details of the person handling your complaint.
• A copy of our complaint handling process.
• A final response may also be included if we can settle your complaint straight away, however if the complaint is settled within 3 working days a final response may not be necessary but we will include a summary resolution communication which outlines the ombudsman details. In the unlikely event that our investigations require longer than 56 days to complete, we will write to you to explain why we are not yet in a position to respond to your complaint and indicate when we will make further contact. We will also provide you with details of your right to refer the matter to the financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

Once our investigations are complete we will write to you with our response, this will be either a final response, or an offer letter, depending on the circumstances of your complaint.

A Final Response is:

• Where we believe we have fully addressed your complaint.
• Notified you that you may refer the complaint to the FOS if you remain dissatisfied with our final response and that you must do so within 6 months from the date of the final response and include the website for reference www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk.
• Enclose leaflet from the FOS.

An Offer Letter is:

Where we consider that you are entitled to some redress, and believe that we have fully addressed your complaint. This will include a page for you to state your acceptance and return to us. We will then forward the agreed redress in a final response letter. We will consider a complaint closed when:

• We have sent you a final response.
• You have indicated in writing that you accept our offer or response
• You fail to respond to our correspondence within 8 weeks from the date of our written response.

If you are dissatisfied with our final response or anytime after us receiving your complaint, you can refer the matter to the financial ombudsman service. You have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, if we have replied or not. The FOS will require our consent to investigate the matter if we haven’t had chance to put things right or we haven’t exceeded the 56 day timescale and haven’t issues our final response letter. If you decide to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, you must do so within 6 months of the date we issue our final response to you. After this time the Ombudsman may refuse to consider the matter.

Financial Ombudsman Service

Further information about the FOS can be found on their website: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Or you can read the FOS leaflet here.