Complaints made about credit cards rise in second half of 2017

In total, 314,586 complaints were made about credit cards between July 1 and December 31 last year, up from 309,875 in the first half of the year. Around 70 percent of complaints were closed within three days.

Credit cards were the third-most complained-about product, after current accounts with 509,047 complaints and payment protection insurance (PPI) with around 1.5 million.

PPI complaints grew 40 percent in the second half of 2017, having attracted 1.1 million in the first half of the year.

Overall, 3.76 million complaints were made about financial services firms, with complaints about PPI driving a 13 percent increase, a rise of 427,032 on the first half of the year.

Complaints about PPI rose by 40 percent to 1.55 million, the highest level of complaints about PPI for more than four years.

Christopher Woolard, executive director of strategy and competition at the FCA, said: “Having set a deadline for PPI complaints, we are encouraging consumers to decide whether they want to claim, and if they do, to make their complaint as soon as possible, as many already have.

“We are continuing to monitor and challenge all firms to ensure they maintain the expected standards and are delivering on their commitments to make it easy for people to complain about PPI.