FCA’s Consumer Duty is a flop, claims customer review website

A large majority of consumers report no improvement in how financial providers treat them following the implementation of the FCA’s Consumer Duty a year ago.

That’s the claim of financial services website Smart Money People which is urging customers to leave online reviews of their financial providers to encourage the industry to sit up and listen to what their customers need and want.

Its study claims to show that 84% report no improvement and 7% of consumers report worsening levels of service in the past 12 months.
 
Consumers’ biggest frustrations are having no access to human support (48%), untrained staff (34%), no available phone number (32%) and an over-reliance on chatbots (24%).

The website says that despite these grievances, only 23% of customers have left a review for their provider in the past 12 months and only 35% have given feedback directly to their provider in the past five years.

Personal loan and buy now, pay later customers were the least satisfied with the service they have received. Over-reliance on ‘live chats’ (30%) coupled with poor customer communications (28%) were the top reasons why consumers express dissatisfaction. An additional fifth (22%) of people had experienced un-empathetic staff members too.  
 
In the study of 2,000 consumers, a proportion self-reported on criteria which would consider them to be vulnerable by the FCA. These customers highlight access to ‘real people’ as the most important factor for their service experience. Notably 81% of these customers said they had seen no positive improvement in the way their financial services companies treat them in the past 12 months.
 
A spokesperson for Smart Money People comments: “The FCA’s Consumer Duty guidelines are specifically designed to put the onus of consumer communications and outcomes on the provider. However our data shows customers are not seeing the impact of these guidelines 12 months later. It’s particularly concerning that vulnerable customers have not seen an improvement in their experience during this time.

“This is why we are encouraging consumers to feedback on both good and bad experiences. Smart Money People works with financial services organisations to better understand and serve their customers, helping to drive better outcomes for both providers and their customers.”