INTRODUCTION

As a retail credit firm regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland, First Citizen Finance DAC (“FCF”) has implemented complaints procedures in alignment with the Consumer Protection Code 2025 (“CPC”). The purpose of these procedures is to track and manage the progress and resolution of complaints.

If a customer is not satisfied with the services provided by FCF, they may make a complaint. This Complaints procedure document outlines how a customer may make a complaint, and what to expect throughout the process, including how to escalate the complaint to the Financial Services & Pensions Ombudsman should they not be satisfied with how the complaint was dealt with.

Should you wish to have a copy of these complaints procedures, a PDF copy is available {here}, or a paper copy may be sent to you on request, through the same channels as listed below. FCF will provide this paper copy within 5 working days of the request.

 

WHAT IS A COMPLAINT?

As per the CPC:

“complaint” means an expression of grievance or dissatisfaction by a consumer, either orally or in writing, in connection with –

(a) the provision or the offer of the provision of a financial service to a consumer by a regulated entity, or

(b) the failure or refusal of a regulated entity to provide a financial service to a consumer;

 

HOW TO MAKE A COMPLAINT?

Should you be unsatisfied with the services you have received from FCF and its staff, you can make a complaint through several channels:

By post at:

First Citizen Finance DAC

Bloom House,

Railway St.,

Dublin 1

 

By email at: info@firstcitizen.ie

By phone at: 01-8846700

 

COMPLAINT PROCESS

When making a complaint via the phone, you will be offered the opportunity to have the complaint treated in the form of a written complaint.

Upon receipt of the complaint, trained FCF staff will gather any relevant information from you, review the details of the complaint, investigate if necessary, and provide a response based on the received information and in line with FCF complaints procedures.

Should this complaint be resolved to the customer’s satisfaction within 5 working days or less, it is not subject to the rest of these procedures.

If the complaint is not promptly resolved, FCF will acknowledge your complaint in paper, or another durable medium, within 5 working days of receipt of the complaint.

Once a complaint has been made, you will receive a point, or points, of contact who you may contact until the complaint is resolved or all steps of FCF’s complaints handling procedures have been exhausted.

While FCF investigates and attempts to resolve the complaint to the customer’s satisfaction, regular updates will be provided, at intervals no greater than 20 working days, beginning on the date the complaint was received.

FCF endeavours to resolve all complaints within 40 working days of receipt of the complaint.

Should the complaint not be resolved within 40 working days, the following actions will be taken:

  • Notify the customer of the anticipated timeframe in which FCF hopes to resolve the complaint.
  • Where the customer has the right to refer the complaint to the Financial Services & Pensions Ombudsman (“FSPO”), FCF will inform you of this right and how to contact them. This information is also contained in this document.

Once the investigation has been completed, FCF will advise you of the outcome of the complaint on paper or another durable medium. This will include:

  • The decision made on the complaint, and the reasons for this decision
  • Where applicable, the terms of any offer or settlement in relation to the complaint
  • That the complaint may be referred to the FSPO, and how to do this

 

COMPLAINT OVERSIGHT

FCF has procedures in place to ensure proper oversight of the complaints handling process. This includes regularly reporting and reviewing any received complaints with management, and ensuring the appropriately trained staff deal with complaints.

Part of this oversight process includes conducting periodic trend analyses on complaints to review whether there are any emerging trends to be found from the analysis of the received complaints. This trend analysis will be performed, at minimum, every 6 months. The outcome of these trend analyses will be reviewed by the FCF Compliance Team, and provided to the Board of Directors for review.

 

FSPO CONTACT DETAILS

Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman

Address: Lincoln House, Lincoln Place, Dublin 2, D02 VH29.

Phone: +353 1 567 7000

Email: info@fspo.ie

Opening Hours: 9am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm   Monday to Friday except bank and public holidays.