The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) today proposed a modernisation of its funding model which could increase the number of free cases for small businesses from three annually to as many as 25.
In a consultation paper today, the ombudsman said the new approach would see only 1% of financial firms pay any case fees. "We propose to increase the threshold at which the case fee becomes payable," the FOS said. "This threshold is currently the fourth case - with the first three cases free. Our proposal is to raise the number of free cases to between 20 and 25 cases. "This would mean that more than 60% of those currently paying case fees would no longer do so." The new charging model, which the FOS said would encourage greater efficiency in complaint handling, is expected to ...
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