Our Commitment to Members
Your credit union is a member of the UK Credit Unions. As part of this organisation we strive to provide members with quality financial services.
We welcome an opportunity to put things right for members who are dissatisfied with our service. Members feedback will be used to help improve services for all members. In addition, members are given the opportunity to be nominated to and serve on the credit union board. This board has ultimate responsibility for setting the policy, procedures and operation of the credit union.
This procedure sets out how a complaint can be made to the credit union, and how we will investigate and respond to it.
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Definition of Complaints and Eligible Complainants
A complaint is any express of dissatisfaction, whether written or oral, about a service that the credit union has provided, or failed to provide that has resulted in financial loss, material distress or material inconvenience, or the potential for such loss or inconvenience to occur.
The credit union will only accept complaints from eligible complainants. Eligible complainants are:
A credit union member or junior member, or potential or former member or junior depositor;
A nominated beneficiary or representative of one of the above;
A business with a turnover of less than £1million.
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Appropriate business decisions
The credit union fully asserts its right to make appropriate business decisions about any area of our operations; including admission of new members to membership and individual eligibility for credit as referenced in the membership and loan policies of the credit union.
All eligible complaints will be handled fairly, consistently and promptly.
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Making a Complaint
Any staff member, officer or volunteer of the credit union can receive a complaint at any place where the credit union conducts business.
A complaint may be made in writing or orally to a staff member, officer or volunteer of the credit union. A complaint can be made in person, by letter, by telephone or email.
The staff member, officer or volunteer receiving the complaint shall record the following information:
Name of complainant;
Address and contact details of complainant;
Membership number of complainant (if a member);
Date and time complaint received;
Date and time complaint occurred;
Substance of complaint;
Type of complaint (e.g. financial loss, inconvenience, distress, behavioural etc.);
Name of person receiving the complaint;
Action taken when receiving complaint (e.g. apology offered, provided copy of internal complaints handling procedure, other information provided);
Date complaint passed to the Complaints Officer.
The information recorded will be reported back to the complainant. It is not necessary for the complainant to confirm the information recorded.
The information will also be stored in the complaint register.
All complaints shall be addressed to the Complaints Officer and copied to the Supervisory Committee.
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Investigating Complaints
The Complaints Officer will be responsible for actioning and investigating the complaint.
In this credit union, the Complaints Officers are:
Catherine Greig
John Milligan
If the Complaints Officer is the subject of a complaint, then the second named complaints officer will be responsible for dealing with the complaint. If both the Complaints Officer and the second named Complaints Officer are involved with the complaint, then the Supervisory Committee may delegate a suitable individual, not involved with the complaint, to action and investigate the complaint received.
A thorough investigation will be undertaken upon receipt of a complaint.
Appropriate actions will be taken to identify and remedy any recurring or systematic problems as well as any specific problem identified by a complaint.
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Responding to Complaints
The credit union aims to resolve the complaint to the complainant’s satisfaction as speedily as possible.
Within 1 Day...
This credit union aims to resolve complaints to the complainant’s satisfaction by the close of business on the next business day after the day on which the complaint was received. Complaints satisfactorily resolved and completed within this time period will be recorded as satisfactorily completed but will not be included within the annual complaints report to the FCA. The records of such complaints are not required to be kept for three years.
Within 5 Days...
If the complaint cannot be resolved quickly, an acknowledgment will be sent to the complainant within 5 days of receipt of the complaint.
The acknowledgement will include the following information:
The name or job title of the person handling the complaint;
The credit unions internal complaint handling procedure.
Within 8 Weeks...
If still unresolved within 8 weeks of receiving a complaint, the credit union will send the complainant:
A final response, or
A response which explains the delay and advises the complainant when a final response can be expected. The complainant will be asked whether they are willing to extend the time for the investigation to be completed. The complainant will be advised that if dissatisfied with the delay, they can refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. A copy of the FOS explanatory leaflet will be included in the response.
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Final Response
It is the credit union’s intention to provide a complainant with a satisfactory final response within 8 weeks of receipt of the complaint.
The final response will include:
A summary of the complaint;
A summary of the investigation into the complaint;
The credit union’s views on the issues raised in the complaint;
Whether the credit union acknowledges it has been at fault in any way;
Details of any redress or offer made to settle the complaint;
The complaint’s right to refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service if remaining unsatisfied with the final response of the credit union;
A copy of the Financial Ombudsman Service explanatory leaflet.
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Redress to Complaints
The credit union will seek to improve its services to all members as a result of the complaints received.
If appropriate to the circumstances of the case, the Complaints Officer investigating the complaint will have the authority to offer an appropriate level of financial compensation as final settlement of the complaint up to an amount no greater than £50. If an amount greater than this amount is considered appropriate, the decision will be referred to the Board to determine. At all times, any financial redress will not be greater than any actual financial loss incurred, and will be dependant upon the circumstances of the individual complaint.
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Records and Reporting
The credit union will keep all records of complaints taking more than the following business day to resolve, for a period of 3 years. The credit union will make an annual report to the FCA on the amount and type of complaints handled by the credit union.
