Contents
1 Purpose
2 Review of Policy and Procedures
3 Responsibilities
3.1 Management Body Responsibilities
3.2 Complaints Manager Responsibilities
3.3 Compliance Responsibilities
3.4 Employee Responsibilities
4 Definitions
4.1 Definition of a complaint
4.2 Definition of an eligible Complainant
5 Policy
5.1 Consumer Awareness
5.2 Timings
5.2.1 Complaints resolved by close of the third business day
5.2.2 Complaints not settled within 3 business days
5.3 Complaints forwarding
5.4 Complaints time barring
5.5 Financial Ombudsman Service
5.6 Analysis
6 The procedure
7 Record keeping
8 Complaints reporting
9 Breaches of the Complaints Policy and Procedure
10 Annex
1 Purpose
This policy and procedures detail how Streamline Car Finance Limited (the Firm) will deal with
complaints. The Firm is authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and, as such, will
act in accordance with the Complaints rules as defined in the FCA Handbook, which will take
precedence over the requirements of this policy and procedures.
2 Review of Policy and Procedures
This policy and procedures will be reviewed regularly, at least once a year, and amended as
considered necessary by the Firm’s Management Body in the event of changing circumstances
or regulations.
3 Responsibilities
3.1 Management Body Responsibilities The Management Body of the Firm are responsible for
the implementation of the Complaints Policy and for monitoring compliance with it. The
Management Body has appointed a Complaints Manager. The Complaints Manager is
responsible for the investigation of complaints. The Compliance Function is responsible for
analyzing complaints and the complaints handling data to identify and address any risks or
issues.
3.2 Employee Responsibilities All employees are expected to refer any verbal or written
complaints to the Complaints Manager at the earliest opportunity and to cooperate fully with the
Complaints Manager in its investigations.
4 Definitions
4.1 Definition of a complaint
The FCA defines a complaint as any oral or written expression of dissatisfaction from or on
behalf of a client, whether justified or not, which includes an actual or potential financial loss,
material distress or material inconvenience.
The Financial Conduct Authority complaints rules apply to complaints:
● Made by, or on behalf of an eligible complainant
● Relating to regulated activity
● Involving an allegation that the complainant has suffered, or may suffer, financial loss,
material distress or material inconvenience
4.2 Definition of an eligible Complainant
An eligible complainant is a complainant who is:
● A consumer (a person acting outside their trade, business or profession)
● A micro-enterprise (an enterprise which employs fewer than 10 people and has a turnover
or balance sheets that does not exceed EUR 2,000,000)
● A charity with an annual income of less than £6,500,000
● A trustee of a trust which has a net asset value of less than £5,000,000 A consumer buy
to let consumer
● A small business (an enterprise which has an annual turnover of less than £6.5 million and
employs fewer than 50 people or has a balance sheet total of less than £5 million)
● A guarantor
Complainants that are professional clients or eligible counterparties that are acting outside of
their trade or professions in relation to the activity to which the complaint relates are considered
to be consumers and, as such, eligible complainants.
If in doubt whether a complainant is an eligible complainant or not, the Firm will treat them as an
eligible complainant.
Only eligible complainants can refer their complaints to the Financial Ombudsman
Service.
5 Policy
It is the Firm’s policy to treat all complainants the same, however, eligible complainants are
legally defined and have additional rights in law that the Firm must acknowledge and adhere to.
The Firm has elected to treat all complaints in the same way for simplicity. Occasionally the Firm
may not know if a complainant is ‘eligible’ in which case it will treat them as such and if it
becomes necessary, the Financial Ombudsman Service will establish the status of the
complainant, not the Firm.
Clients and potential clients are able to submit complaints free of charge.
Complaints will be handled promptly, effectively and in an independent manner, obtaining
additional information as necessary.
The Firm will always communicate with clients and potential clients clearly in plain language that
is easy to understand and will reply to the complaint without undue delay.
The Firm will assess fairly, consistently and promptly:
● The subject matter of the complaint
● Whether the complaint should be upheld
● What remedial action or redress may be appropriate
● Whether another party may be solely or jointly responsible for the matter alleged in the
complaint
The Firm will promptly comply with any offer or remedial activity or redress accepted by the
complainant.
The Firm will consider a complaint closed when it has issued a final response.
The Firm will provide information about the Financial Ombudsman Service to eligible
complainants on its website and if applicable, in the general conditions of its contracts with
eligible complainants in a clear, comprehensible and easily accessible way.
5.1 Consumer Awareness
The Firm has published Complaints Procedures that include contact details of the Complaints
Manager. The procedures are made available to clients and potential clients on request and
when the Firm is acknowledging a complaint. The procedures contain information about the
Financial Ombudsman Service.
5.2 Timings
The Firm has a maximum of 8 weeks to issue a final response to the complainant and it requires
that this practice is followed (as a maximum timescale) for all complaints.
5.2.1 Complaints resolved by close of the third business day If the Firm satisfactorily resolves
the complaint by close of business on the third business day following the receipt of the
complaint then the Firm will issue a written “Summary Resolution Communication” to the
complainant, advising that it considers the complaint as resolved and informs the complainant,
for eligible complainants, about their options for referring the complaint back to the Firm or for
onward referral to the Financial Ombudsman Service if they are dissatisfied.
In addition to sending a complainant a “Summary Resolution Communication”, the Firm may
also use other methods to communicate the information where:
It considers that doing so may better meet the complainant’s needs; or
The complainant and the Firm have already been using another method to communicate about
the complaint.
5.2.2 Complaints not settled within 3 business days
On receipt of a complaint, the Firm will send the complainant a written acknowledgement
providing confirmation that it has received the complaint and is dealing with it.
The Firm will ensure that the complainant is kept informed of the progress of the measures
being taken for resolution of the complaint.
The Firm will write to complainants after four weeks if it has not reached a decision. The Firm
will issue a final response to the complainant within 8 weeks and inform the complainant, for
eligible complainants, about their options for onward referral to the Financial Ombudsman
Service.
The final response will clearly set out:
● Whether the Firm accepts or rejects the complaint
● The reasons for rejection, where applicable
● The intention to offer redress or remedial action, where applicable
● Details of the redress to be offered and any compensation offered with a clear method of
calculation.
Additionally, where the client is an eligible complainant, the Firm will:
● Explain that where the complainant disagrees with the Firm’s decision they must refer
the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service within six months of the date of this letter or the right to use this service is lost, and
● Enclose a copy of the Financial Ombudsman Service’s standard explanatory leaflet The
Firm will consider a complaint closed when it has issued its final response.
5.3 Complaints forwarding
The Firm may promptly forward the complaint in writing to another party if they have reasonable
grounds to believe that the other party may be solely or jointly responsible for the matter alleged
in the complaint. If a complaint is forwarded, the Firm will inform the complainant promptly in a
final response of why the complaint has been forwarded to another party and provide the
complainant with the other party’s contact details.
If the Firm receives a forwarded complaint, the complaint will be treated as if the Firm has
received the complaint directly and the same time limits will apply from the date on which the
Firm has received the forwarded complaint.
5.4 Complaints time barring
If the Firm receives a complaint which is outside the time limits for referral to the Financial
Ombudsman Service, it may reject the complaint without considering the merits but will explain
this to the complainant in its final response.
Unless the Firm consents, the Financial Ombudsman Service will not consider a complaint if the
complainant refers it to the Financial Ombudsman Service:
● More than six months after the respondent sent the complainant its final response
● More than six years after the event complained of
● More than three years from the date on which the complainant became aware that he
had cause for complaint
5.5 Financial Ombudsman Service
The Firm will cooperate fully with the Financial Ombudsman Service in resolving any
complaints made against it and agrees to be bound by any awards made by the Ombudsman.
The Firm undertakes to promptly pay the fees levied by the Financial Ombudsman Service.
5.6 Analysis
The Firm will conduct root because analysis of any complaint received and record any
appropriate actions taken. Complaints will be analysed for any recurring patterns and all lessons
learnt will be incorporated into future training and development. The causes of complaints will
be recorded in the Management Information and will be used with the prioritization of dealing
with the root causes.
6 The procedure
Refer any complaint verbal or written to the Complaints Manager at the earliest opportunity.
The Complaints Manager will then,
- Make an initial assessment of the complaint, contacting the complainant for further
information if required. This can be done via telephone, email or any other appropriate means of
communication. - If there is sufficient information and the complaint can be resolved within 3 business days,
then proceed to step 9. - If the complaint cannot be resolved within 3 business days, send out an initial response letter
to the complainant using the Initial Response Letter Template, adding the details known about
the complaint by the next working day, stating that the complaint has been received and is being
dealt with. - Investigate the complaint impartially obtaining additional information from the Firm and/or the
complainant as necessary. - Enter the complaint into the Complaints Log and create a Complaint Record.
- Assess fairly, consistently and promptly:
a) The subject matter of the complaint
b) Whether the complaint should be upheld
c) What remedial action or redress (or both) may be appropriate
d) If appropriate, whether it has reasonable grounds to be satisfied that another
party/respondent may be solely or jointly responsible for the matter alleged in the complaint. - If appropriate, forward the complaint to the relevant party/respondent and advise the
complainant in writing why the complaint has been forwarded to the other party and provide the
other party’s contact details. - If the complaint is unresolved after four weeks, send out a holding letter using the Holding
letter template, advising an expected resolution date. - If the complaint is resolved, communicate the Firm’s position on the complaint to the
complainant and inform them about their options, including that they may be able to refer the
complaint to an alternative dispute resolution entity (Financial Ombudsman Service for eligible
complainants) or that the complainant may be able to take civil action, using the Final Response
Letter template. If the complaint was resolved within 3 days, use the Summary Resolution
Communication instead. - In the final response letter, clearly set out whether the Firm accepts or rejects the complaint,
the reasons for rejecting any complaint or where the Firm accepts the complaint, and intends to
offer redress or remedial action, details of the redress to be offered, any compensation offered
and a clear method of calculation. - In the final response letter to eligible complainants, enclose a copy of the Financial
Ombudsman Service’s standard explanatory leaflet, provide the website address of the
Financial Ombudsman Service and inform the complainant that if they are still dissatisfied with
the Firm’s response, the complaint may now be referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service. - Comply promptly with any offer of remedial action or redress accepted by the complainant.
- Conduct a root cause analysis in the case of any complaint and record with the appropriate
action having been taken. Record any actions within the individual complaint record. - Liaise with senior management if any changes need to be made to the Firm’s procedures
based on the analysis. - Update the Complaints Log and Complaints Record with the final decision including details
of the amount of any redress offered.
7 Record keeping
The Firm will keep a record of each complaint received and the measures taken for its
resolution, including any redress offered, and retain that record for three years from the date the
complaint was received. - 8 Complaints reporting
Twice a year, the Firm will provide the FCA with a complete report concerning complaints from
eligible complainants. Complaints that have been forwarded in their entirety to another party will
not be included in the report.
9 Breaches of the Complaints Policy and Procedure
Any breaches of the Complaints Policy and Procedures will be recorded on the Firm’s breach
log in conjunction with its Regulatory Breach policy.
10 Annex
Financial Ombudsman Service
Address: The Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, London E14 9SR
Tel: 0800 023 4567 (free for most people ringing from a fixed line) or 0300 123 9123 (cheaper
for those calling using a mobile) or 44 20 7964 0500 (if calling from abroad)
Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Website: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk