Not upheld: Account administration errors complaint against Furness Building Society

Decision detail

Summary

Mr N complained that Furness Building Society opened a 5-year fixed-rate bond account instead of an ISA account he had requested in July 2020. Mr N attended a branch and was instructed by staff to complete a bond account application form, which he did trusting the staff. However, Mr N later discovered the account opened was a bond rather than an ISA. Furness maintained that their records showed Mr N had initially requested a bond account and offered to allow penalty-free withdrawal as a gesture of goodwill. The ombudsman did not uphold the complaint, finding insufficient evidence of a mistake by Furness and noting that Mr N had multiple opportunities to challenge the account type during the application process and upon receiving account documentation.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while Mr N intended to open an ISA account, Furness initially understood his request to be for a bond account. Although the ombudsman acknowledged confusion may have arisen due to Covid-19 restrictions limiting in-branch service quality, there was insufficient evidence to conclude Furness made a mistake. The ombudsman noted that Mr N had multiple opportunities to challenge the account type: during the in-branch application process, upon receiving account literature, and upon receiving the passbook. The ombudsman also found it reasonable that Furness asked Mr N to apply for a bond account given that his wife completed an ISA transfer (suggesting different account types were appropriate for different circumstances) and Mr N provided funds by cheque rather than transfer.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website