The power to settle financial complaints.
The power to settle financial complaints.
ombudsman news gives general information on the position at the date of publication. It is not a definitive statement of the law, our approach or our procedure.
The illustrative case studies are based broadly on real-life cases, but are not precedents. Individual cases are decided on their own facts.
March 2002
We start with the "hot topic" of dual variable mortgage rate cases. In previous issues of ombudsman news, we promised to say more about these once we had issued some final decisions. We have now decided "lead" cases involving three lenders, and our decisions are summarised in this issue.
Contrary
to some reports, we have not said that lenders cannot have more
than one variable rate. The cases concerned how the mortgage terms
of borrowers who took out their mortgage when there was only a
single standard variable rate should be interpreted, when the
lenders subsequently introduced more than one rate.
We also focus in this issue on the caseworkers in our assessment team – who resolve the majority of cases in the banking and loans division. We illustrate their work with summaries of some typical cases they have resolved.
We are required to reach our decisions on the basis of what is fair in the circumstances – taking into account any relevant law, regulations or code and, where applicable, what we consider to have been good industry practice at the time. In this context, the Banking Code can be important. So we conclude this issue with the submission we made to the Code’s independent reviewer.
David Thomas
principal ombudsman
banking and loans division