Upheld: Service failures generally complaint against Curve UK Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr B attempted to open a Curve account on 18 January 2026 but experienced document upload failures. After sending multiple unanswered requests for help on 26 January, 1 February, and 4 February, he instructed Curve on 16 February to cancel his application. Despite this explicit cancellation instruction, Curve opened the account on 12 March 2026. Mr B complained about the lack of communication, repeated failures to respond, and the account being opened against his wishes. The ombudsman upheld the complaint, finding Curve's service failures caused distress and inconvenience, and ordered £200 compensation instead of the £25-£50 Curve had offered, with the account to be closed without further instruction from Mr B.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Curve failed to communicate with Mr B despite multiple contact attempts, failed to acknowledge his messages, and most critically, failed to action his explicit cancellation instruction on 16 February before opening the account on 12 March. While Curve's regulatory obligations and due diligence requirements were not disputed, the ombudsman considered the lack of updates and responses unreasonable. The ombudsman noted Mr B's distress at believing he may have been scammed when messages went unanswered. The compensation offered (£25 then £50) was deemed inadequate given the repeated errors, the effort Mr B had to make to resolve the issue, and the distress and inconvenience caused beyond reasonable expectations.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website