Complaints about residential mortgages fell by 11% to 4,553 complaints in the last financial year compared to the previous financial year, data from the Financial Ombudsman Service showed.
The percentage of complaints in favor of the borrower in 2025/26 amounted to 27%, a slight decrease from 32% in 2024/25.
Overall, there were 6,407 new mortgage complaints, down 7% year-on-year from 6,895 complaints.
Buy-to-let complaints remained at a similar level with 760 new cases, compared to 795 cases the previous year.
The FOS’s total caseload has returned to more normal levels following the massive rise caused by the car finance scandal.
It says it received 214,600 complaints in the 2025/26 financial year, which is similar to levels seen in 2023/24 when it received 198,800 complaints. This represents a 30% decrease on the 305,700 cases received in 2024/25, largely due to complaints about car finance and credit card commission.
Last year, the FOS introduced fees for cases brought by claims-chasing firms.
Its aim was to encourage better substantiated complaints and make funding arrangements fairer.
In 2025/26, more consumers took their cases directly to the Financial Ombudsman free of charge and around 82% of cases were referred by consumers or friends and family on their behalf.
The FOS has also seen a reduction in withdrawn and abandoned complaints referred to the service, from 35% in 2024/25 to 18% in 2025/26.
During the same period, the service also saw an increase in the number of consumers registered as at risk, which reached 25%.
“After a period of high demand, our case volumes are returning to more historic levels as the procedures we have implemented ensure complaints that reach us are better substantiated and ready to be investigated,” says James Dibble Johnston, Interim Chief Ombudsman at FOS.
“We remain focused on our primary goal as a fast, informal and impartial alternative to the courts.”
