Not upheld: poor service, lack of transparency, excessive information requests complaint against LONDON & COUNTRY MORTGAGES LIMITED

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs S complained that L&C dealt poorly with her mortgage enquiry by requesting information piecemeal, asking for irrelevant information including about her daughter's savings, failing to call when promised, and ultimately declining to arrange a mortgage without explanation. L&C denied treating her unfairly. The ombudsman found that L&C's information-gathering process was reasonable and standard practice for a mortgage broker, that the three-week timeframe was not excessive given most delays were due to Mrs S not providing documents, and that L&C was entitled to decide it could not advise her and arrange a mortgage. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that L&C was reasonable in wanting to understand Mrs S's circumstances before deciding whether to advise her and arrange a mortgage. The information-gathering process did not take an unreasonably long time, and most of the delay was attributable to Mrs S not sending documents rather than avoidable delay by L&C. L&C was entitled to decide whether it could advise Mrs S and arrange a mortgage, and it was not obliged to explain its decision, though it did provide a reasonable explanation.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website