FOS’s latest Ombudsman News looks at:
- coronavirus: so far, FOS has not seen many complaints on the impact of the virus, but expects it will see more complaints particularly in relation to travel insurance, medical insurance and goods and services bought on credit and then cancelled;
- under-insurance, misrepresentation and non-disclosure: FOS’ experience is that people do not understand the implications of not answering questions correctly until it is too late – but also sometimes insurers have not asked the right questions or considered an appropriate range of remedies. It notes specific examples, where consumers are regularly confused, such as terminology around commuting in motor insurance policies, which it has raised with industry. FOS has also found that businesses are not always referring to the CIDRA duty to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation, and the circumstances under which this may give the insurer rights, where the consumer has made a “qualifying misrepresentation”. The update includes case studies on motor and medical insurance; and
- complaints data: statistics for the last quarter show PPI is still the most complained-about product, accounting for around half the complaints received – and proportionally, complaints have increased since the PPI deadline passed. FOS is also getting significant complaints about consumer credit, and continues to uphold a large number of complaints about high-cost credit.