At Finch Group our customers are at the heart of our business. We aim to treat our customers as fairly and consistently as we would wish to be treated ourselves. Our aim is always to provide our customers with a first-class service; however, we are aware that we don’t always get everything right, occasionally, it is possible that we may fail to meet your expectations. If things do go wrong, we’ll do our best to clear things up.

We take all complaints seriously, where a complaint arises, we will, wherever possible, endeavour to resolve the matter as fairly and quickly as possible.

The information shown below provides an overview of how we deal with complaints, how long it may take, and who to get in touch with.

If you need to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact us. You can contact us in various ways as follows:

In the event that your complaint relates to activities or services provided by another party, we will advise you of this in writing giving the reasons for our decision and ensure that your complaint is forwarded to the appropriate party, in writing, within 1 business day.

Once we have received your complaint, we will acknowledge your complaint within 24 hours, to reassure you that we will be dealing with the issue as a matter of urgency, giving you the details of who will be handling the matter in our office. We will try to resolve the complaint within 3 working days. If we are able to, we will provide you with a summary Resolution Communication. If we are unable to:

Within 4 weeks we will aim to make a final response to you as soon as is practicable and keep you reasonably informed as to progress. If we are unable to provide you with a final response, we will explain why and when we expect to be able to provide it. We anticipate that we will be able to provide a substantive response to most complaints within eight weeks.

Within 8 weeks from receipt of your complaint, we will issue you with our final decision letter, or issue a response that gives the reasons for the delay and indicates when we will be able to provide a final decision. If you are dissatisfied with our response, or the delay at this time, you will have a period of Six months in which you can refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service, whose details are shown below.

When we provide our final decision letter, we will endeavour to ensure that we have taken into consideration any financial losses, or material inconvenience you may have suffered. If we do not feel that your complaint is justified, we will advise you of the reasons for our decision and we will also advise how you may pursue the complaint if you remain dissatisfied.

If you are eligible you can make use of the Financial Ombudsman service in order to mediate your complaint if you are unhappy with our final response; their contact information is listed below.

The Financial Ombudsman Service offers a free, independent complaint resolution service. For more information on the services provided by the FOS please use the following links.

You have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, free of charge – but you must do so within six months of the date of the final response letter.

If you do not refer your complaint in time, the Ombudsman will not have our permission to consider your complaint and so will only be able to do so in very limited circumstances. For example, if the Ombudsman believes that the delay was as a result of exceptional circumstances.

Eligible Complainants:

Access to the FOS is available for complainants coming within one of the following categories at the time we receive their complaint:

• Consumers (private individuals acting for purposes which are wholly or mainly outside that individual’s trade, business, craft, or profession)
• Micro-enterprises which employ fewer than 10 persons and with a turnover or annual balance sheet total not exceeding €2 million;
• Small Businesses, which are not defined as micro-enterprises, which have an annual turnover of less than £6.5 million, a balance sheet total of less than £5 million, or employs less than 50 employees;
• Charities with an annual income of less than £6.5 million;
• Trusts with a net asset value of less than £5 million; and
• Individuals who act as personal guarantors for loans to business they are involved in.

We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.  You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we are unable to meet our obligations.  Your entitlement to compensation will depend on the circumstances of the claim.  Further information about the compensation scheme arrangements is available at https://www.fscs.org.uk or by telephoning 0800 678 1100 or 020 7741 4100.