Not upheld: failure to provide paper statements and alleged failure to make reasonable adjustments under Equality Act 2010 complaint against Barclays Bank UK PLC (trading as Barclaycard)

Decision detail

Summary

Mr O complained that Barclays Bank UK PLC (Barclaycard) treated him unfairly by not providing paper statements for his branded credit card and failed to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010 due to his health circumstances. Barclays stated the account was app/online only and this was made clear during application. The ombudsman found that the application landing page clearly stated the account was 'app-first' and that 'digital statements' would be provided, and that the account's key benefit was rewards for purchases with an online retailer. The ombudsman concluded that it was not unreasonable for an online-only product marketed with online retailer benefits to not provide paper statements, and that this was likely made clear to Mr O before application. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Barclays clearly communicated the app-only and digital-statements-only nature of the account before Mr O applied. The landing page explicitly stated digital statements would be provided, and the app-first requirement implied no paper statements. Given the account was marketed as an online product with benefits for an online retailer, it was not unreasonable for it to be online only. While the ombudsman acknowledged Mr O's health circumstances and need for paper statements, they found it was not unfair for Barclays to maintain this as a feature of the product. The ombudsman noted that determining whether Barclays breached the Equality Act 2010 is a matter for the courts, not the FOS.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website