Complaints Procedure

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) defines a complaint under its regulatory rules as:

"Any expression of dissatisfaction, whether oral or written, and whether justified or not, from or on behalf of an eligible complainant about the firm's provision of, or failure to provide, a financial service or redress determination."

Whether you convey your concerns to your dedicated broker, file them in writing, or communicate dissatisfaction via our online platform, we treat your feedback with strict confidentiality and priority.

If you have experienced an issue with your advice or mortgage application journey, you can register a formal complaint through any of the following channels:

To help us investigate and address your issue as quickly as possible, please provide your full name, preferred contact details, your mortgage or file reference number (if known), and a detailed explanation of the circumstances.

Many complaints can be addressed and corrected immediately. If our team can fully investigate, resolve your issue, and secure your agreement on a proposed resolution within **three business days** following its receipt:

• We will contact you directly to outline the findings of our review and present our proposed solution.
• Once you accept the resolution, we will send you a formal written confirmation called a Summary Resolution Communication (SRC).
• The SRC will confirm that your complaint has been resolved and will outline your statutory right to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) should you change your mind later.

If your complaint requires highly complex technical reviews, deep lending criteria audits, or third-party communications (such as contacting lenders or insurers directly), it may take longer to investigate.

If we are unable to complete our investigation and issue our Final Response Letter within the regulatory 8-week window, we will write to you to explain the cause of the delay, provide an updated resolution target, and advise you of your statutory right to refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service immediately.

We will officially consider your complaint case resolved and closed on our registry when:

• We have sent you our final written response and you have explicitly accepted our findings or proposed redress parameters.
• You have confirmed in writing or over a recorded telephone line that you accept our earlier proposed resolution.
• You choose to refer your case directly to the Financial Ombudsman Service, and they inform us in writing that their investigation of the complaint has been finalized.

If you remain dissatisfied with our Final Response Letter, or if 8 weeks have elapsed and we have not been able to provide you with our final resolution, you have the statutory right to request a free, independent review from the **Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS)**.

Important: You must contact the FOS within six months of the date printed on our Final Response Letter or Summary Resolution Communication.

Please note: The Ombudsman will typically only review complaints once you have attempted to resolve them directly with us first. We ask that you reach out to our team first so we can do everything we can to resolve your concerns.

It is important to understand that the Financial Ombudsman Service does not have regulatory jurisdiction over all mortgage types.

Specifically, standard, non-regulated Buy-to-Let mortgages do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman Service or the Financial Conduct Authority.

If your complaint concerns an unregulated Buy-to-Let mortgage arranged on your behalf, we will still conduct our internal three-day and eight-week investigations to the exact same high standard of fairness. However, you will not have the statutory right to refer the matter to the FOS. Consumer Buy-to-Let (CBTL) mortgages are regulated, and our team will clarify your rights at the point of recommendation.

The European Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Directive establishes frameworks designed to resolve out-of-court contractual disputes between UK consumers and financial businesses.

The **Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS)** is the designated statutory ADR provider for the Financial Services industry inside the UK.

At LloydsIFS, we prefer to engage directly and transparently with our clients to resolve all concerns directly inside our offices, rather than delegating early resolution responsibilities to third-party ADR providers. This commitment does not affect or diminish your statutory right to refer your complaint to the FOS at any time.

If you initiated your relationship or transacted our financial advisory services online, you may also choose to register any formal complaints through the European Commission's Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) portal at: ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr.

Complaints received through the online ODR platform are forwarded securely to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) and subsequently to LloydsIFS’s compliance department. Any complaints received via ODR are treated with the exact same timelines, rigor, and commitment to fairness as those submitted directly to our office.