Joint Equity Ltd and the FSA Complaints Procedure Compared
► The FSA and Complaints Procedure details:
The FSA announced on 9th July 2009 plans to make firms publish their own complaints data every six months where 500 or more complaints have been received during the period.
Under the proposals, revealed by Money Marketing, buried in the Government's white paper, the FSA will also publish results from the whole sector twice a year.
The regulator says this will enable consumers to see how firms handle complaints including the number received, the main products and services covered and how quickly they are resolved.
The FSA is proposing that firms which receive the largest number of complaints publish information on how many complaints they have opened and closed, the percentage closed within eight weeks and the percentage of complaints upheld.
The information will be broken down into five product areas including banking, home finance, general insurance and pure protection, life and pensions, and investments.
Firms will also need to provide contextual information such as the number of complaints per 1000 customer accounts, which the FSA says will make it easier for people to understand and compare the data.
Firms will not be required to publish complaints that have been resolved by close of the next business day after they were received. The FSA says expressions of dissatisfaction in customer surveys are also unlikely to count as reportable complaints.
FSA director of retail policy and conduct risk Dan Waters says: “Transparency is an important regulatory tool. Publishing complaints data will mean that people can learn more about how firms handle complaints and the frequency with which they arise.
“We also consider that publishing this information will incentivise firms to deal more effectively with complaints and help to raise industry standards in this important area. It is essential that the information is meaningful and genuinely brings benefits by enhancing customers’ experiences of the firms they deal with.”
Joint Equity we do our best to make sure that you don’t have any complaints about our activities or our processes.
However, if you have a complaint to make, we have a procedure that we will follow to try and get your complaint resolved as effectively as possible.
Click here to download our full Complaints Procedure (PDF)
► Joint Equity response to the FSA Complaints Procedure
Joint Equity is not regulated by the FSA as we do not carry out any regulated activities.
It is not possible to be voluntarily regulated so we cannot “opt in”. All our mortgage
advice is provided by our independent mortgage advisors City Mortgage Bureau Ltd
who are FSA regulated more
However, we consider that the FSA initiatives should be considered the minimum standard
for any business connected with mortgages and who are in regular contact with the
public..
But Joint Equity is an ethical organisation and we absolutely believe transparency
is the core element of our business. We therefore although we comply with FSA requirements
as a minimum we also try to put ourselves in our Partner’s position and understand
what you will want.
We want our Owner Partners to buy a home successfully and our Investor Partners to
invest successfully. If you have a complaint it is because something went and we
want to know about it for 2 reasons.
First we want to put things right for you and do it as quickly as we can
Secondly we need to identify what went wrong and why. Then we need to develop and
implement a plan to put it right for the future.
Mistakes, problems, or whatever has caused our Partners a problem ultimately costs
us money and is a waste of time for everyone.
Our Complaints Procedure is very clear and provides time boundaries for each step.
More And we are proud that we do more than the FSA require. We already exceed FSA
requirements with our Treating Partners Fairly policy and charter and our Complaints
Procedure is also better. See table above for summary.
We will publish the numbers of complaints we receive and how long it takes to resolve
each one every 3 months at the same time we publish the Treating Partners Fairly
statistics.
► The problem with reporting on our Complaints Procedure
Unlike Joint Equity to have problems producing clear and transparent information,
we hear you say - but it is true.
The problem is we have been in business for 4 years and have not received a single
complaint so the graph has nothing on it.
Looks odd but that is the result click 2010 or 2009 to see what we mean. But remember
this is not a challenge to ruin our good record!
► The FSA and Joint Equity Complaints Procedure summary:
How often are results published?
How many complaints closed
Complaints resolved in 1 day
► Contact information for complaints:
We have a dedicated email address for complaints, which is: complaints@jointequity.co.uk.
Please use this address when making a complaint with us.
Of course, any complaints sent to any other Joint Equity email addresses will be
treated with the same care and attention.
The Joint Equity Scheme is for first-time buyers, home owners and property investors.
This site is developed and maintained by Joint Equity ltd. ©Joint Equity ( 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010) 2011
Joint Equity Ltd works with City Mortgage Bureau to provide case studies & Illustrations to prospective Owner-Partners & Investor-Partners. Joint Equity Ltd does not carry out any regulated activities and so is not regulated by the FSA (Financial Services Authority). Joint Equity Ltd are introducer appointed representatives of
City Mortgage Bureau Ltd, which are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
The content of this website is accurate to the best of our knowledge and for information only. We do not provide financial advice.
