DISP 2.7 Is the complainant eligible?

A complaint may only be dealt with under the Financial Ombudsman Service if it is brought by or on behalf of an eligible complainant.

A complaint may be brought on behalf of an eligible complainant (or a deceased person who would have been an eligible complainant) by a person authorised by the eligible complainant or authorised by law. It is immaterial whether the person authorised to act on behalf of an eligible complainant is himself an eligible complainant.

An eligible complainant must be a person that is:

1. (1)

   a consumer; or

2. (2)

   a micro-enterprise;

   1. (a)

      in relation to a complaint relating wholly or partly to payment services, either at the time of the conclusion of the payment service contract or at the time the complainant refers the complaint to the respondent; or

   2. (b)

      otherwise, at the time the complainant refers the complaint to the respondent; or

3. (3)

   a charity which has an annual income of less than £6.5 million at the time the complainant refers the complaint to the respondent; or

4. (4)

   a trustee of a trust which has a net asset value of less than £5 million at the time the complainant refers the complaint to the respondent; or

5. (5)

   (in relation to CBTL business) a CBTL consumer; or

6. (6)

   a small business at the time the complainant refers the complaint to the respondent; or

7. (7)

   a guarantor.

A guarantor shall be an eligible complainant only to the extent that their complaint arises from matters relevant to the relationship with the respondent referred to in DISP 2.7.6R(10).

To be an eligible complainant a person must also have a complaint which arises from matters relevant to one or more of the following relationships with the respondent:

1. (1)

   the complainant is (or was) a customer,payment service user or electronic money holder of the respondent;

2. (2)

   the complainant is (or was) a potential customer,payment service user or electronic money holder of the respondent;

3. (2A)

   the complainant is (or was) a payer in a payment transaction in relation to which the respondent is (or was) the payee’spayment service provider, provided the complaint relates to the respondent’s obligations under regulation 90(3) of the Payment Services Regulations;

4. (2B)

   the complainant is a person that has transferred funds as a result of an alleged authorised push payment fraud and both:

   1. (a)

      the respondent is (or was) involved in the transfer of the funds; and

   2. (b)

      the complaint is not a PSD complaint;

5. (3)

   the complainant is the holder, or the beneficial owner, of units in a collective investment scheme and the respondent is:

   1. (a)

      the operator of a scheme; or

   2. (b)

      the depositary of an authorised fund; or

   3. (c)

      the depositary of a charity AIF; or

   4. (d)

      [deleted]

6. (3A)

   the complainant is the holder, or the beneficial owner, of units or shares in an AIF that is not a collective investment scheme where the respondent is:

   1. (a)

      the AIFM of an unauthorised AIF (other than a body corporate); or

   2. (b)

      [deleted]

   3. (c)

      the AIFM or depositary of a charity AIF (other than a body corporate);

7. (4)

   the complainant is a beneficiary of, or has a beneficial interest in, a personal pension scheme or stakeholder pension scheme;

8. (5)

   the complainant is a person for whose benefit a contract of insurance was taken out or was intended to be taken out with or through the respondent;

9. (6)

   the complainant is a person on whom the legal right to benefit from a claim against the respondent under a contract of insurance has been devolved by contract, assignment, subrogation or legislation (save the European Community (Rights against Insurers) Regulations 2002);

10. (7)

    the complainant relied in the course of his business on a cheque guarantee card issued by the respondent;

11. (8)

    the complainant is the true owner or the person entitled to immediate possession of a cheque or other bill of exchange, or of the funds it represents, collected by the respondent for someone else's account;

12. (9)

    the complainant is the recipient of a banker's reference given by the respondent;

13. (10)

    the complainant gave the respondent a guarantee or security for:

    1. (a)

       a mortgage;

    2. (b)

       a loan;

    3. (c)

       an actual or prospective regulated credit agreement;

    4. (d)

       an actual or prospective regulated consumer hire agreement; or

    5. (e)

       any linked transaction as defined in the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (as amended);

14. (11)

    the complainant is a person about whom information relevant to his financial standing is or was held by the respondent in providing credit references;

15. (11A)

    the complainant is a person about whom information relevant to his financial standing is or was held by the respondent in providing credit information;

16. (11B)

    the complainant is a person about whom specified information was provided to a person in relation to a finance application;

17. (12)

    the complainant is a person:

    1. (a)

       from whom the respondent has sought to recover payment under acredit agreement or consumer hire agreement (whether or not the respondent is a party to the agreement); or

    2. (b)

       in relation to whom the respondent has sought to perform duties, or exercise or enforce rights, on behalf of the creditor or owner, under acredit agreement or consumer hire agreement in carrying on debt administration;

18. (13)

    the complainant is a beneficiary under a trust or estate of which the respondent is trustee or personal representative;

19. (14)

    (where the respondent is a dormant asset fund operator) the complainant is (or was) a customer of a bank or building society which transferred any balance from a dormant asset to the respondent;

20. (14A)

    (where the respondent is a dormant asset fund operator) subject to DISP 2.7.6AR(1), the complainant is (or was) a person to whom the proceeds of a long-term insurance contract were payable by an insurer, but which instead were transferred by the insurer to the respondent;

21. (14B)

    (where the respondent is a dormant asset fund operator) subject to DISP 2.7.6BR, the complainant is (or was) a member of a personal pension scheme which transferred any eligible pension benefits due to the complainant to the respondent;

22. (14C)

    (where the respondent is a dormant asset fund operator) the complainant is (or was) a person to whom an eligible CIS amount was owing immediately before it was transferred to the respondent by the authorised fund manager or depositary of an authorised fund;

23. (14D)

    (where the respondent is a dormant asset fund operator) subject to DISP 2.7.6AR(2), the complainant is (or was) a person for whom a firm was holding client money immediately before it was transferred to the respondent by that firm;

24. (15)

    the complainant is either a borrower or a lender under a P2P agreement and the respondent is the operator of an electronic system in relation to lending;

25. (16)

    the complainant is a client (where the respondent is an ISPV);

26. (17)

    the complainant is a customer of the respondent in relation to regulated claims management activity;

27. (18)

    the complainant is a customer of the respondent in relation to regulated pensions dashboard activity.

1. (1)

   DISP 2.7.6R (14A) does not include proceeds of a contract of insurance held in a lifetime ISA if their transfer to a dormant asset fund operator resulted in (or would result in) liability to pay a lifetime ISA government withdrawal charge.

2. (2)

   DISP 2.7.6R(14D) does not include client money held in a lifetime ISA if its transfer to a dormant asset fund operator resulted in (or would result in) liability to pay a lifetime ISA government withdrawal charge.

Benefits under a personal pension scheme in DISP 2.7.6R(14B) are excluded from being ‘eligible pension benefits’ if (or to the extent that) they are provided from sums invested in a with-profits fund.

In addition, an individual is an eligible complainant if:

1. (1)

   they have been identified by the respondent as a politically exposed person, a family member of a politically exposed person, or a known close associate of a politically exposed person; and

2. (2)

   their complaint:

   1. (a)

      is that such identification is incorrect; or

   2. (b)

      relates to an act or omission by the respondent in consequence of such identification.

The following are not eligible complainants:

1. (1)

   (in all jurisdictions) a firm, payment service provider, electronic money issuer, CBTL firm, designated credit reference agency, designated finance platform or VJ participant whose complaint relates in any way to an activity which:

   1. (a)

      the firm itself has permission to carry on; or

   2. (ab)

      the firm, payment service provider, electronic money issuer, CBTL firm, designated credit reference agency or designated finance platform itself is entitled to carry on under the Payment Services Regulations, the Electronic Money Regulations, the MCD Order, the Small and Medium Sized Business (Credit Information) Regulations or the Small and Medium Sized Business (Finance Platforms) Regulations; or

   3. (b)

      the VJ participant itself conducts;

and which is subject to the Compulsory Jurisdiction or the Voluntary Jurisdiction;

1. (2)

   (in the Compulsory Jurisdiction) a complainant, other than a trustee of a pension scheme trust, who was:

   1. (a)

      a professional client; or

   2. (b)

      an eligible counterparty;

   in relation to the firm and activity in question at the time of the act or omission which is the subject of the complaint.

2. (3)

   [deleted]

DISP 2.7.9 R (1) and DISP 2.7.9 R (2) do not apply to a complainant who is a consumer in relation to the activity to which the complaint relates.