The Ombudsmans pleads for 'patience' as it warns tens of thousands of complaints will take more than 18 months to resolve

The Financial Ombudsman Service, the world's biggest consumer dispute resolution service, is sitting on a stockpile of 400,000 unresolved payment protection insurance (PPI) complaints. Of these, it expects about 60,000 to take more than 18 months to resolve. It has admitted that despite a huge increase in staff and resources, the avalanche of PPI cases is affecting its ability to handle consumers' complaints about other issues such as investments and banking. In a report published today, the FOS said the number of non-PPI complaints resolved in three months had slipped from 43pc to 40pc, and those resolved within six months from 73pc to 69pc. But it improved slightly over a longer period, with the number of non-PPI complaints resolved in one year going up from 89pc to 91pc.........Read more here