4 17This chapter applies to the Ombudsman and to respondents.

7The Ombudsman can consider a complaint under the Compulsory Jurisdiction if it relates to an act or omission by a firm in carrying on one or more of the following activities:

1. (1)

   regulated activities ;

2. (1A)

   payment services;7

3. (2)

   consumer credit activities;

4. (3)

   lending money secured by a charge on land;

5. (4)

   lending money (excluding restricted credit where that is not a consumer credit activity );

6. (5)

   paying money by a plastic card (excluding a store card where that is not a consumer credit activity );

7. (6)

   providing ancillary banking services;

or any ancillary activities, including advice, carried on by the firm in connection with them.630

7The Ombudsman can consider a complaint under the Compulsory Jurisdiction if it relates to an act or omission by a payment service provider in carrying on:

1. (1)

   payment services; or

2. (2)

   consumer credit activities;

or any ancillary activities, including advice, carried on by the payment service provider in connection with them.

A complaint about an authorisedprofessional firm cannot be handled under the Compulsory Jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman Service if it relates solely to a non-mainstream regulated activity and can be handled by a designated professional body.630

The Ombudsman can consider a complaint under the Consumer Credit Jurisdiction if:610

1. (1)

   it is not covered by the Compulsory Jurisdiction; and610

2. (2)

   it relates to an act or omission by a licensee in carrying on610

   1. (a)

      one or more consumer credit activities; or610

   2. (b)

      any ancillary activities, including advice, carried on by the licensee in connection with them.610

The Ombudsman can consider a complaint under the Voluntary Jurisdiction if:427

1. (1)

   it is not covered by the Compulsory Jurisdiction or the Consumer Credit Jurisdiction; and

   427
2. (2)

   it relates to an act or omission by a VJ participant in carrying on one or more of the following activities:

   1. (a)

      an activity carried on after 28 April 1988 which:

      1. (i)

         was not a regulated activity at the time of the act or omission, but

      2. (ii)

         was a regulated activity when the VJ participant joined the Voluntary Jurisdiction (or became an authorised person, if later);

   2. (b)

      a financial services activity carried on after commencement by a VJ participant which was covered in respect of that activity by a former scheme immediately before the commencement day;

   3. (c)

      activities which (at 1 July 2007) were regulated activities or would be regulated activities if they were carried on from an establishment in the United Kingdom (these activities are listed in DISP 2 Annex 1G);

   4. (d)

      activities which would be consumer credit activities if they were carried on from an establishment in the United Kingdom

   5. (e)

      lending money secured by a charge on land;

   6. (f)

      lending money (excluding restricted credit where that is not a consumer credit activity );

   7. (g)

      paying money by a plastic card (excluding a store card where that is not a consumer credit activity );

   8. (h)

      providing ancillary banking services;

   9. (i)

      acting as an intermediary for a loan secured by a charge over land;

   10. (j)

       acting as an intermediary for general insurance business or long-term insurance business;

   11. (k)

       National Savings and Investments' business;

   12. (l)

       activities which (at 1 November 2009) were payment services or would be payment services if they were carried on from an establishment in the United Kingdom;6

or any ancillary activities, including advice, carried on by the VJ participant in connection with them.

4 27The Voluntary Jurisdiction covers an act or omission that occurred before the VJ participant was participating in the Voluntary Jurisdiction, and whether the act or omission occurred before or after commencement, either:

1. (1)

   if the complaint could have been dealt with under a former scheme; or

2. (2)

   under the agreement by the VJ participant in the Standard Terms.

The Compulsory Jurisdiction covers complaints about the activities of a firm (including its appointed representatives) or of a payment service provider (including agents of a payment institution)6 carried on from an establishment in the United Kingdom.519

1. (1)

   [deleted]

2. (2)

   [deleted]

3. (3)

   [deleted]

4. (4)

   [deleted]

5. (5)

   [deleted]

6. (6)

   [deleted]

The Consumer Credit Jurisdiction covers only complaints about the activities of a licensee carried on from an establishment in the United Kingdom.519

The Voluntary Jurisdiction covers only complaints about the activities of a VJ participant carried on from an establishment:519

1. (1)

   in the United Kingdom; or

2. (2)

   elsewhere in the EEA if the following conditions are met:

   1. (a)

      the activity is directed wholly or partly at the United Kingdom (or part of it);

   2. (b)

      contracts governing the activity are (or, in the case of a potential customer, would have been) made under the law of England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland; and

   3. (c)

      the VJ participant has notified appropriate regulators in its Home State of its intention to participate in the Voluntary Jurisdiction.

A complaint may only be dealt with under the Financial Ombudsman Service if it is brought by or on behalf of an eligible complainant.127

A complaint may be brought on behalf of an eligible complainant (or a deceased person who would have been an eligible complainant) by a person authorised by the eligible complainant or authorised by law. It is immaterial whether the person authorised to act on behalf of an eligible complainant is himself an eligible complainant.127

An eligible complainant must be a person that is:127

1. (1)

   a consumer3;

   3
2. (2)

   a micro-enterprise3 ;

   3
   1. (a)

      3in relation to a complaint relating wholly or partly to payment services, either at the time of the conclusion of the payment service contract or at the time the complainant refers the complaint to the respondent; or

   2. (b)

      otherwise, at the time the complainant refers the complaint to the respondent;

3. (3)

   a charity which has an annual income of less than £1 million at the time the complainant refers the complaint to the respondent; or

4. (4)

   a trustee of a trust which has a net asset value of less than £1 million at the time the complainant refers the complaint to the respondent.

To be an eligible complainant a person must also have a complaint which arises from matters relevant to one or more of the following relationships with the respondent:127

1. (1)

   the complainant is (or was) a customer or payment service user3 of the respondent;

2. (2)

   the complainant is (or was) a potential customer or payment service user3 of the respondent;

3. (3)

   the complainant is the holder, or the beneficial owner, of units in a collective investment scheme and the respondent is the operator or depositary of the scheme;

4. (4)

   the complainant is a beneficiary of, or has a beneficial interest in, a personal pension scheme or stakeholder pension scheme;

5. (5)

   the complainant is a person for whose benefit a contract of insurance was taken out or was intended to be taken out with or through the respondent;

6. (6)

   the complainant is a person on whom the legal right to benefit from a claim against the respondent under a contract of insurance has been devolved by contract, assignment, subrogation or legislation (save the European Community (Rights against Insurers) Regulations 2002);

7. (7)

   the complainant relied in the course of his business on a cheque guarantee card issued by the respondent;

8. (8)

   the complainant is the true owner or the person entitled to immediate possession of a cheque or other bill of exchange, or of the funds it represents, collected by the respondent for someone else's account;

9. (9)

   the complainant is the recipient of a banker's reference given by the respondent;

10. (10)

    the complainant gave the respondent a guarantee or security for:

    1. (a)

       a mortgage;

    2. (b)

       a loan;

    3. (c)

       an actual or prospective regulated consumer credit agreement;

    4. (d)

       an actual or prospective regulated consumer hire agreement; or

    5. (e)

       any linked transaction as defined in the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (as amended);

11. (11)

    the complainant is a person about whom information relevant to his financial standing is or was held by the respondent in operating a credit reference agency as defined by section 145(8) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (as amended);

12. (12)

    the complainant is a person:282

    282
    1. (a)

       from whom the respondent has sought to recover payment under aregulated consumer credit agreement or regulated consumer hire agreement in carrying on debt-collecting as defined by section 145(7) of the Consumer Credit Act (1974) (as amended); or 282

    2. (b)

       in relation to whom the respondent has sought to perform duties, or exercise or enforce rights, on behalf of the creditor or owner, under aregulated consumer credit agreement or regulated consumer hire agreement in carrying on debt administration as defined by section 145(7A) of the Consumer Credit Act (1974) (as amended); 282

13. (13)

    the complainant is a beneficiary under a trust or estate of which the respondent is trustee or personal representative;4

14. (14)

    (where the respondent is a dormant account fund operator) the complainant is (or was) a customer of a bank or building society which transferred any balance from a dormant account to the respondent. 4

1 27The following are not eligible complainants:

1. (1)

   (in all jurisdictions) a firm, payment service provider,3licensee or VJ participant whose complaint relates in any way to an activity which:

   1. (a)

      the firm itself has permission to carry on; or

   2. (ab)

      3the firm or payment service provider itself is entitled to carry on under the Payment Services Regulations; or

   3. (b)

      the licensee or VJ participant itself conducts;

and which is subject to the Compulsory Jurisdiction, the Consumer Credit Jurisdiction or the Voluntary Jurisdiction;

1. (2)

   (in the Compulsory Jurisdiction) a complainant, other than a trustee of a pension scheme trust, who was:

   1. (a)

      a professional client; or

   2. (b)

      an eligible counterparty;

   in relation to the firm and activity in question at the time of the act or omission which is the subject of the complaint; and

2. (3)

   (in the Consumer Credit Jurisdiction):

   1. (a)

      a body corporate;

   2. (b)

      a partnership consisting of more than three persons;

   3. (c)

      a partnership all of whose members are bodies corporate; or

   4. (d)

      an unincorporated body which consists entirely of bodies corporate.

1 9The Ombudsman can only consider a complaint if:

1. (1)

   the respondent has already sent the complainant its final response ; or

2. (2)

   eight weeks have elapsed since the respondent received the complaint.

1 9The Ombudsman cannot consider a complaint if the complainant refers it to the Financial Ombudsman Service:

1. (1)

   more than six months after the date on which the respondent sent the complainant its final response; or

2. (2)

   more than:

   1. (a)

      six years after the event complained of; or (if later)

   2. (b)

      three years from the date on which the complainant became aware (or ought reasonably to have become aware) that he had cause for complaint;

   unless the complainant referred the complaint to the respondent or to the Ombudsman within that period and has a written acknowledgement or some other record of the complaint having been received;

unless:

1. (3)

   in the view of the Ombudsman, the failure to comply with the time limits in DISP 2.8.2 R or DISP 2.8.7 R210 was as a result of exceptional circumstances; or

2. (4)

   the Ombudsman is required to do so by the Ombudsman Transitional Order; or

3. (5)

   the respondent has not objected , on the grounds that the time limits in DISP 2.8.2 R or DISP 2.8.7 R have been exceeded210, to the Ombudsman considering the complaint.

1 9The six-year and the three-year time limits do not apply where:

1. (1)

   the time limit has been extended under a scheme for review of past business approved by the Treasury under section 404 of the Act (Schemes for reviewing past business); or

2. (2)

   the complaint concerns a contract or policy which is the subject of a review directly or indirectly under:

   1. (a)

      the terms of the Statement of Policy on 'Pension transfers and Opt-outs' issued by the FSA on 25 October 1994; or

   2. (b)

      the terms of the policy statement for the review of specific categories of FSAVC business issued by the FSA on 28 February 2000.

1. (1)

   19If a complaint relates to the sale of an endowment policy for the purpose of achieving capital repayment of a mortgage and the complainant receives a letter from a firm or a VJ participant warning that there is a high risk that the policy will not, at maturity, produce a sum large enough to repay the target amount then, subject to (2), (3), (4) and (5):

   1. (a)

      time for referring a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service starts to run from the date the complainant receives the letter; and

   2. (b)

      ends three years from that date ("the final date").

2. (2)

   Paragraph (1)(b) applies only if the complainant also receives within the three year period mentioned in (1)(b) and at least six months before the final date an explanation that the complainant's time to refer such a complaint would expire at the final date.

3. (3)

   If an explanation is given but is sent outside the period referred to in (2), time for referring a complaint will run until a date specified in such an explanation which must not be less than six months after the date on which the notice is sent.

4. (4)

   A complainant will be taken to have complied with the time limits in (1) to (3) above if in any case he refers the complaint to the firm or VJ participant within those limits and has a written acknowledgement or some other record of the complaint having been received.

5. (5)

   Paragraph (1) does not apply if the Ombudsman is of the opinion that, in the circumstances of the case, it is appropriate for DISP 2.8.2R (2) to apply.