Tagged decisions
24,123
Published decisions carrying this complaint-theme tag
Complaint theme analysis
Affordability Assessment Failure complaint theme analysis
A public analysis page for the complaint theme affordability assessment failure, built from the root-cause tagging layer across published Financial Ombudsman decisions.
Upheld rate
28.8%
6,953 upheld decisions
Page summary
24,123 published decisions tagged affordability assessment failure, with upheld-rate context, product concentration, firm exposure, precedent signals, and representative cases.
Tagged decisions
24,123
Published decisions carrying this complaint-theme tag
Upheld rate
28.8%
6,953 upheld decisions
Latest published decision 25 Aug 2026
How to use this page
Read the metrics first, then the ranked view.
The top-line cards show scale and outcome context. The ranked view and representative decisions show where the slice is concentrated and what the published decision set actually looks like.
Tagged decisions
24,123
Published decisions carrying this complaint-theme tag
Upheld rate
28.8%
6,953 upheld decisions
Leading product
Payment protection insurance (PPI)
8,729 decisions
Leading firm
Bank of Scotland Plc
2,764 decisions
Affordability Assessment Failure as a public complaint theme
Analysis24,123 published decisions in the corpus carry the complaint-theme tag affordability assessment failure. 28.8% of those decisions were upheld, which makes this one of the most useful public “type” slices available in the dataset.
Payment protection insurance (PPI) is the product line most often associated with this theme, while Bank of Scotland Plc is the firm that appears most often alongside it in published decisions.
- Latest year represented: 2026
- Leading precedent signal: Consumer Credit Act 1974
- Leading firm: Bank of Scotland Plc
How this theme moves across the corpus
AnalysisAffordability Assessment Failure has enough history in the published decisions to show how complaint pressure has evolved across multiple years, rather than appearing as a one-off issue cluster.
In 2026, affordability assessment failure appeared in 1,247 published decisions with an upheld rate of 13.7%.
- 2026: 1,247 decisions, 13.7% upheld
- 2025: 1,145 decisions, 18.0% upheld
- 2024: 999 decisions, 26.6% upheld
- 2023: 839 decisions, 39.3% upheld
- 2022: 903 decisions, 60.2% upheld
Where the theme concentrates
AnalysisPayment protection insurance (PPI), Banking and credit, Consumer Credit, and others are the product areas most associated with this theme in published decisions. That helps explain where this complaint type is most likely to appear in the ombudsman corpus.
Consumer Credit Act 1974, Section 140a Cca, Conc, and others are the most visible precedent signals tied to this complaint theme.
- Payment protection insurance (PPI): 8,729 decisions
- Bank of Scotland Plc: 2,764 decisions
- Second precedent signal: Section 140a Cca
Representative cases
Recent published decisions in this slice
5 examples shown
DRN-626511825 Aug 2026Not upheld
Nationwide Building Society · Banking and Payments
My final decision is that I do not uphold Mrs Y’s complaint. Under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I’m required to ask Mrs Y to accept or reject my decision before 22 September 2026.
View source decisionDRN-640612925 Aug 2026Not upheld
Volkswagen Financial Services (UK) Limited · Consumer Credit
My final decision is that I do not uphold Miss K’s complaint. Under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I’m required to ask Miss K to accept or reject my decision before 22 September 2026.
View source decisionDRN-651718125 Aug 2026Not upheld
SAINSBURY'S FINANCIAL SERVICES LIMITED · Consumer Credit
For the reasons given above, I do not uphold this complaint against Sainsbury's Financial Services Limited. Under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I’m required to ask Mr M to accept or reject my decision before 22 September 2026.
View source decisionDRN-652492025 Aug 2026Not upheld
NATIONAL WESTMINSTER BANK PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY · Consumer Credit
My final decision is that I’m not upholding Mr W’s complaint about National Westminster Bank Public Limited Company. Under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I’m required to ask Mr W to accept or reject my decision before 22 September 2026.
View source decisionDRN-656015225 Aug 2026Not upheld
Vanquis Bank Limited · Banking and Payments
My final decision is that I do not uphold this complaint against Vanquis Bank Limited for the reasons set out above. Under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I’m required to ask Miss M to accept or reject my decision before 22 September 2026.
View source decision