Features

High-flying ombuds‘women’!

The Financial Ombudsman Service helps settle complaints between consumers and financial fi rms – covering everything from mortgages to motor insurance. It’s the largest scheme of its kind in Europe. And three of its most senior ombudsmen are women.

As the leading ombudsman for banking and credit, Jane Hingston oversees complaints about a wide range of businesses – from large high-street banks to the local pawnbroker’s shop. Jane has two degrees in finance and law and is also an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers. She was a manager with a large building society before joining the ombudsman service.

“I got used to change from a young age, when my family moved to England from Ireland. The ability to adapt to change has been valuable in my working life,” says Jane. “The ombudsman has grown rapidly – dealing with 20,000 complaints a year when I joined to an annual total now of more than 120,000. But what fi rst attracted me to work here has remained the same. We help ‘level the playing fi eld’, so people who might otherwise feel daunted by the prospect of complaining about a large fi nancial institution can get their voice heard.”

“Law and justice have dominated my working life” says Caroline Mitchell. “They were important themes running throughout my childhood, too, as my father was legal director at a major international corporation.” Now the leading ombudsman responsible for investment complaints, Caroline’s career started at the law firm, Lawrence Graham, where she became a litigation partner at the age of 27. She held a senior position at the Police Complaints Authority before joining the ombudsman.

“Investment is sometimes thought of as just for the wealthy – but it includes things such as pensions that are important to all of us. The investment complaints we investigate generally involve sums of money that are relatively small – but that may represent someone’s entire life savings – money they’re depending on for their future.”

After qualifying as a barrister, Caroline Wayman gained experience in the insurance industry before joining the ombudsman service. Now a leading ombudsman, she was the youngest ombudsman ever appointed, responsible for overseeing the handling of over 300,000 mortgage endowment cases.

Its ethos of fairness is what first attracted her to the ombudsman service. “Even as a child, I knew I wanted a job that made a difference and that had fairness at the centre of it. Of course, determining exactly what is fair can be challenging. It’s our job to establish the facts in every case that is brought to us – and to consider both sides of the story. If we decide the business was in wrong and the consumer has lost out as a result – we have offi cial powers to get things put right. Financially, court is simply not an option for most people – and the ombudsman provides a free route to justice.”

The power to settle financial complaints.

‘top tips’ on how to get your complaint taken seriously

1. What’s the problem?
Be clear about that in your own mind.

2. Stay calm – even if you’re upset.
This helps you to get your points across clearly.

3. Write or phone? Always have the relevant policy or account numbers to hand and keep a record of who you contacted – and when.

4. Keep it brief. Tell the fi rm what you are unhappy about and how you would like them to put things right.

5. Take it further. Financial firms have 8 weeks to try and resolve formal
complaints. After that you can complain to the ombudsman service.

www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

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