P2P lending complaints rise but make up small proportion of cases
The number of complaints about peer-to-peer lenders and crowdfunding firms rose in the second half of 2019, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has revealed.
Complaints data published by the City watchdog shows there were 3,562 complaints in the crowdfunding and P2P sector during the final six months of last year.
This was up from the 1,883 reported in the first half of the year and compares with just 954 reported in the final six months of 2018.
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The regulator has also revealed firm-level data based on those reporting more than 500 complaints.
The data shows that RateSetter closed 1,654 cases between 1 April 2019 and the end of September.
It upheld 36.2 per cent of complaints.
The platform said last year that a change to the way it deals with enquiries means more are dealt with as complaints even if they are quickly dealt with.
The figures also show Zopa closed 894 complaints between 1 July 2019 and the end of December, with 26.3 per cent upheld.
The P2P lending complaint data is small compared with the overall six million complaints reported by all regulated firms for the second half of 2019.
This is equivalent to just 0.05 per cent of all cases.
Payment protection insurance (PPI) made up 62 per cent of complaints.
Excluding PPI complaints, the volume of complaints received increased from 2.18m to 2.31m between the first and second half of 2019.
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