Our Complaints Policy

How we handle complaints

As a member-owned organisation, we work hard to meet the standards our members expect. If something goes wrong, we want to put it right as quickly and fairly as possible.

We also use complaints as an opportunity to learn and improve our service for all members.

We will not always get things right, but when something does go wrong, we will work hard to fix it as soon as possible.

If your complaint relates to how we have collected, used, stored, shared or otherwise handled your personal data, please see the separate Data Protection Complaint Procedure below.

General complaints procedure

The easiest way to tell us you are unhappy is by emailing complaints@mycommunitybank.co.uk. If you prefer, you can also write to us at:

Membership Team
My Community Bank
30 Churchill Place,
Canary Wharf,
London
E14 4RE

After we receive your complaint, we will acknowledge it within 5 working days. We will investigate it fully and aim to provide our final response as soon as possible, and in any event within 8 weeks.

Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS)

If we are unable to provide a final response within 8 weeks, we will write to explain why and tell you that you may be able to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). If you are unhappy with our final response, you can refer your complaint to the FOS within 6 months of the date of that response.

Further details about the Financial Ombudsman Service are available on their website at www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk. The Ombudsman can also be contacted at:

The Financial Ombudsman Service
Exchange Tower
London E14 9SR

Tel: 0800 0234 567
Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org

Reporting to the FCA and within the Organisation

We record and analyse complaints and report complaints data to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in line with regulatory requirements.

Resolution Process

If we have made a mistake, we want to offer a meaningful apology. In some cases, it may also be appropriate to offer financial redress, particularly where our error has affected you financially.

In summary, if you make a complaint, we will treat it seriously, work to put things right, learn from your experience, and use that learning to improve our service for all members.

Data Protection Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have collected, used, stored, shared or otherwise handled your personal data, you can make a data protection complaint directly to us. This procedure is separate from, and does not affect, your right to raise a concern with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

You can make a data protection complaint by emailing complaints@mycommunitybank.co.uk, writing to the Membership Team at the address above, or raising your concern through any of our usual contact channels. You do not need to use any particular wording or refer to data protection law for us to treat your concern as a data protection complaint.

We will acknowledge receipt of your data protection complaint within 30 days of receiving it. We will then investigate the issue without undue delay, which may include making enquiries, reviewing relevant records and speaking with the teams involved. Where appropriate, we will keep you updated on progress.

Once our investigation is complete, we will tell you the outcome without undue delay. If we identify that we have not met our data protection obligations, we will explain what action we will take to address the issue and, where appropriate, prevent it happening again.

We will keep a record of the data protection complaints we receive, including when they were received, how we acknowledged them, the steps taken to investigate, the outcome, and any remedial action. This helps us demonstrate compliance and improve how we handle personal data.

If you remain dissatisfied after we have responded to your data protection complaint, or if you believe we have not handled it properly, you may complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The ICO’s contact details are:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113

More details on how to complain to the ICO are available on the Complaints page of the ICO’s website. You should usually submit your complaint to the ICO within three months of your last contact with us.