The UK Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) published its complaints data for July to September 2020 and reported an increase in cases and enquiries across the spectrum.
It received nearly 69,000 complaints during the period, 5,900 of which were related to covid-19.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the FOS has received over 10,000 complaints related to coronavirus, it said.
Claims about credit topped the list, with cases for products such as guarantor loans surging by 296%.
Pensions were also quite prominent in the data set.
The FOS said it received 980 enquiries and opened 825 cases related to personal pensions, with 65 being referred to an ombudsman, and 27% upheld.
Similarly, the service reported 673 enquiries and 821 cases related to Sipps, with 103 referrals and 57% being upheld.
Pandemic effect
Other financial products that generated complaints included term assurance for life only (359 enquiries and 272 cases), term assurance for both life and critical illness (164 enquiries and 235 cases), and financial advice (142 enquiries and 136 cases).
Overall, the Ombudsman reported 119,214 consumer enquiries, 10% higher than the first quarter but 36% fewer compared to the same three months last year.
The number of new complaints increased compared with both Q1 2020-21 and Q2 2019-20, by 19% and 20%, respectively.
Referrals to an ombudsman increased compared to the first three months as well (17%) reaching 9,204, but the figure is 21% lower than the same period last year.
The general uphold figure stayed the same as in Q1 at 32%, but decreased by four percentage points if compared to 2019-20. Guarantor loans were the category with the highest uphold rate at 88%.
The FOS added that the covid-19 pandemic had a significant effect on the number of complaints received, with some products, such as travel insurance, surging by 500% from Q4 2019-20 to Q2 2020-21.
