Financial Ombudsman Flashcards
What does diversity mean to you in the workplace and why is it important ?
To me diversity means a mix of differences. For example different ethnicities, gender, age. I believe working within a company that provides a diverse environment to work in, allows people to learn different viewpoints and learn different experiences. This personally drives me to learn more and be the best that I can be. Diversity and inclusion go hand in hand, for example I have read the directors report and the ways in which FOS promotes equality, diversity and inclusion. From the outside, knowing that this body has been included in the community’s best employers for race listing 2018, I want to be a part of this workplace even more because this tells me that there is respect for employees and a real drive to be diverse. If the workplace is diverse and inclusive on the inside then naturally the service to customers will also be diverse and inclusive. For example, I work in Hounslow where I encounter many non English speaking individuals especially women who are housewives and therefore not engaging with others in English. I share the same values as the FOS in terms of community engagement. I have volunteered through work to deliver a presentation at a local temple so that women not fluent in English could engage with me and learn about metro bank and our services in Hindi. I also deliver programmes to primary school children about banking. As a result I have managed to introduce certain groups to banking and its services whom otherwise may not have had any idea or may not have approached us themselves.
Why do you want to work here?
I want to work for the Financial Ombudsman because I appreciate the training and development that goes towards new and existing employees. The new 6 month in house academy tells me that you are serious about the growth and training of new employees and gives me confidence that I will be fully supported through my journey. Also the role itself seems challenging but rewarding as I thrive in a fast paced environment where I have to meet targets and work on numerous things. I love making wrongs right and I genuinely care when it comes to customer issues and complaints so I think I will fit into the role well. I find that I already live the values that are at the heart of the FOS such as doing the right thing, respecting our customers needs and doing what I say I will do. I also had some friends in the FOS who have shared their positive experiences and employee benefits and it is the ideal workplace for me.
Give an example of when you had to make a decision without having all the relevant information
▪️money Zone
▪️fraudulent card dispute
In my current role I volunteered to run the Money Zone programme. This involves attending training through work in order to deliver educational programmes to local primary schools regarding banking and finance once or twice a month. I had a booking to attend a school recently and realised that there had been no delivery of training materials. Instead of cancelling the session with the school, I decided to improvise and planned activities and games which still fit into the curriculum. I delivered the programme using everything I had learnt in training and my past experience delivering the money zone sessions. By using my initiative and creativity, I managed to deliver what I had promised to deliver and the children enjoyed an engaging, informative and fun money zone session. The school also emailed my manager some positive feedback about my session and how well it was delivered. Even though I did not have the relevant materials, I still covered the relevant areas by using my previous training experience.
▪️ customer came in to withdraw a large sum of money which was irregular with the account activity. Usually we have a team that we call to get their opinion on whether customer can have the funds but on this occasion the head office had been evacuated and so there was no way of contacting them. As I planned what to do next the customer became loud and aggressive asking for their money immediately. I asked my manager who told me it was my call to make and that if I didn’t feel comfortable I should not give the funds. I had some knowledge regarding the checks our head office would do when there were large inward payments into a customers account so I did these checks myself. I found that there were too many things that didn’t quite match up and also the customer was unable to tell me the make and model of the car they were supposedly buying with the cash. For this reason I quickly made the decision to not withdraw the funds for the customer and put a temporary block on the account. I also emailed our head office team with the situation and later on got a call from them saying that I had done the right thing. The funds would be held as they could not be traced back to the sender.
Tell me about a time you had to deal with a difficult customer
I once dealt with a very upset customer who came in demanding that I close his account as his card had stopped working while he was away in Europe resulting in him paying charges to another bank as he had no choice but to use the other card. Metro bank promotes the feature of free card transactions in Europe but the customer felt we had not delivered. The customer was being loud and drawing a lot of attention so I asked the customer to come and take a seat with me at a corner desk so I could understand the issue. I listened to the customer and showed empathy and understanding. The customer calmed down and I offered to look into the issue if he was happy for me to. The customer also asked that I log a complaint which I was happy to log. Once I had all the information I needed from the customer I took down his contact and promised to keep him updated on the progress of his card issue and explained our complaints procedure. Over the next two days I communicated with our card operations team who escalated the card issue directly to MasterCard to be resolved. I ensured that I kept the customer in the loop by calling him with updates. As I also took ownership of the complaint in terms of investigating it, i upheld the complaint and ensured the customer was compensated for the charges he had to pay to his other bank. The card issue was also resolved and the customer received a new card in the post. A few weeks later the customer came in to thank me for being patient with him and providing such a transparent service. By listening, understanding and making the wrong right I managed to keep the customers account with us.
Give an example of a complex complaint you have handled
I was opening a business account for a barrister but whilst checking the business Experian report and her ID I noticed a name discrepancy. Everything needs to match prior to opening the account so I informed her and asked her to either change the name with companies house to reflect on her report or bring in proof of name change so that we can continue opening the account. The customer was frustrated as she wanted the account opened the same day but agreed to bring a deed poll in the next day. When she did I checked it and explained that this was not a deed poll that the bank would accept as it was not official. The customer at this point refused to communicate with me and asked for our business manager to give her a call. A complaint was made as she claimed that she had paid a reputable company to draft her deed poll which had been signed by solicitors. Over the next few days I went back and forth with our ID&V team who give the final say on whether a document or ID can be accepted. I spoke to 2 different individuals in this team who both said the same thing- the deed poll could not be accepted as it was not enrolled with the royal courts of justice. I further investigated what they meant by this and found a statement on the GOV.uk website stating that a bank may need an enrolled deed poll rather than just getting one drafted. After investigating the complaint I informed my business manager of what I had found and that I was going to not uphold the customers complaint for those reasons. I drafted a response letter stating what the customer felt had gone wrong, what I had done to investigate the issue and why I disagreed with the customers complaint. I also provided information from the GOV.uk website and steps to enrol the deed poll. The customer wished to challenge our policy further so details for contacting the financial Ombudsman were provided and the complaint was closed.
Give an example of when you have worked in a team to achieve a goal/ target
When I was at University I was a member of the Street Law project. With a small group I had to organise and deliver a project over the course of a month. The goal was to successfully deliver a weekly session to the local public on different areas of the law whilst keeping it engaging and fun.
I took care of keeping the group organised. For example I held a group vote where we decided which four areas to cover and I then delegated an area of law for each person to research. I also ensured that we had relevant meeting rooms booked for where the sessions would be held. Another member of the group took care of promoting the weekly sessions by contacting local colleges. We had another person take care of refreshments and equipment we may need to deliver the session such as a projector/ white board. I ensured that we all communicated via a whatsapp group and I held practice sessions to go over the delivery of the project.
Due to us working well together and by staying so organised, we had a good number of people turn up to all four sessions. We delivered the sessions with confidence as we had done our research and practice which turned out to be a success. The sessions were engaging and informative and we were recognised by the law society for our hard work. I am definitely a collaborator and look forward to bringing my positivity to group experiences with the Financial ombudsman.
How do you plan your work and work under pressure?
▪️money Zone example
▪️mobile phone sales target
I thrive under pressure because it really forces me to really focus on what I’m doing, assess my priorities, and come up with a plan. Rather than reacting quickly, I try to stop and collect my thoughts and envision a positive outcome. For instance, in my current job, I was expecting a delivery of materials and resources that I usually use when I run a Money Zone session. These are programmes delivered to local primary schools about banking and finance. My manager told me that the delivery would not come in time and that I had 24 hours to put together a presentation which fit the curriculum. Usually I also had props for activities such as fake money so I also had to come up with some other games and activities. I took a few hours to clear my mind and collect my thoughts. I then planned the whole session making use of the internet and my previous training experience. I found fun games from the web which I incorporated into the presentation and then did a few practice runs of the whole thing to ensure I was staying within the timeframes. The next day I stayed calm and confidently delivered the programme to a group of 15 children. I felt accomplished by the end of it as I had covered the areas I needed to whilst keeping it fun. It’s not always easy to perform under pressure but I find that this method of staying calm, taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture allows me to succeed in these situations.
Working at three, my monthly sales targets were usually 15 new contracts a month. During my first Christmas period at the job, I was given a target of 30. At first this seemed daunting but I took a step back and made a plan to achieve this target. By gathering my thoughts I realised that I Was really good at selling certain handsets but if I wanted to be better I needed to work smarter and know every product inside out. I took a few days at work and even at home to do my research and compare every handset for its pro’s and con’s. I spent time shadowing a colleague who was top of the store when it came to meeting targets and then put everything I had learnt into practice. The pressure was definitely on because everyone wanted to meet their targets but I remained calm and confident and managed to deliver. I hit half of my target halfway through the month so I knew I was on track to hit 30 by the end. By planning ahead and using my time wisely to research and learn from my colleague, I ended the month with 31 sales and felt accomplished knowing that I can do anything that I put my mind to.
Facts about FOS
Independent body which parliament introduced in 2000
Not for profit
Listed as one of the top diverse companies
Independent body that investigates and resolves disputes fairly efficiently by listening and understanding what the issue is and what impact it has had on the customer
