Timothy’s story – Glasgow.
Timothy was transferred into hospital some months ago and had been trying to change his address with the bank for over six months.
The advocate had been supporting Timothy to do this through various methods and multiple telephone calls. As he couldn’t physically go into a branch the whole process became increasingly difficult to resolve.
With no success, the advocate supporting Timothy helped to lodge a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman, given that Timothy felt like he was being unduly affected by the bank’s lack of accessibility for individuals detained due to their mental health.
“Worry about how I’d change my address with the bank whilst in hospital started to negatively impact my mental health. I didn’t want my correspondence going to a previous address where others might open it. Every avenue we tried, we were meet with more failed attempts. The advocate helped me file a complaint to the financial ombudsman which they rejected. They told me I wasn’t entitled to anything, as they felt I hadn’t been impacted by the delays. I pushed through with the help of my advocate to challenge their decision. I hope they go on to review their policies to ensure those detained in hospital are not discriminated against”
It was the submission of additional information that pushed the financial ombudsman to redact their previous decisions and they went on to apologise to Timothy for the misunderstanding. This would not have been possible without the advocate and social worker’s support.
