Help and support
Talk to us about your loan
Contact us if you:
- are in financial difficulty or worried about making payments
- have business or personal changes that affect your loan
- want to release land or property from your loan
- need to make changes to your loan agreement.
How to complain
At The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation plc (AMC), our aim is to provide you with the highest level of customer service.
If you do experience a problem, we will always seek to resolve it as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Or if you would like to appeal a lending decision.
The complaints process
Raising a complaint with us will not affect any rights you may have to pursue the issues through formal (legal) proceedings.
Our promise to you
Our aim is to offer excellent service, but sometimes things can go wrong. If you need to complain, we promise:
- to do our best to put things right as soon as we can
- to give you the contact details of the person or team dealing with your complaint
- to give your complaint our full attention and commit to resolving the issue for you no matter how you choose to tell us about it, whether it’s by phone, online or in writing.
- If you have a complaint, we’d like to talk to you about it as soon as possible. The majority of complaints are resolved there and then.
How we’ll handle your complaint
We will provide an acknowledgement of your complaint within five working days unless other arrangements are agreed with you in advance.
After that, we will regularly update you on progress as advised in our acknowledgement until we have completed our investigations and issued our final response.
Our final response will address all of your concerns, and confirm whether the complaint is being upheld or rejected.
Eligibility for the Financial Ombudsman Service
AMC customers may have the right to take their complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), free of charge. The Financial Ombudsman Service is a service set up by Parliament to resolve complaints between financial businesses and their customers. They can consider complaints from individuals, certain small businesses and charities.
If you have a complaint and we haven’t issued our response within eight weeks from the date you first raised your complaint, or if you’re dissatisfied with our response, you can ask the Financial Ombudsman Service for an independent review. The Financial Ombudsman Service will only consider your complaint once you’ve tried to resolve it with us, so please take up your concerns with us first and we’ll do all we can to help.
If the events which gave rise to your complaint occurred prior to 1 April 2014 (before which date AMC’s lending agreements were exempt from the Consumer Credit Act and AMC was not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority) or after 31 March 2016, when AMC ceased to be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, AMC does not consider it likely that the FOS will be able to consider these matters, but this is a matter for the FOS to decide.
If you do decide to refer your complaint to the FOS you must do so within six months of receiving AMC’s final response letter. If you do not refer your complaint in time, the FOS will not have our permission to consider your complaint and so will only be able to do so in very limited circumstances. For example, if the FOS believes that the delay was as a result of exceptional circumstances.
In order to refer a complaint to the FOS you must meet the eligibility criteria. The FOS may consider complaints from:
- a private individual
- a micro-enterprise which has a group annual turnover and/or balance sheet of up to €2 million (sterling equivalent) and fewer than 10 staff
- a small business which has a group annual turnover of up to £6.5 million and fewer than 50 staff or a balance sheet of less than £5 million
- a guarantor that has provided a guarantee or security in respect of an obligation of a micro-enterprise or small business
- a charity which has an annual income of less than £6.5 million
- a trustee of a trust which has a net asset value of less than £5 million.
For more information
Visit the Financial Ombudsman Service website at: financial-ombudsman.org.uk.
Call: 0800 023 4567 ( +44 20 7964 0500 from outside the UK)
Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Write to: Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, London, E14 9SR.
How to appeal
The right type of funding can play a vital role in helping your business reach its potential. If your lending application is declined, or if you disagree with a conditional loan offer, we will work with UK Finance to pursue any raised appeals.
If your application for lending is declined, you have the right to appeal that decision and have the decision independently reviewed by an experienced lender from our specialist lending appeals team. Where AMC approves a loan, you also have the right to appeal the conditions of that offer (see note 6).
1. What is the process for an appeal?
Please contact AMC to make an appeal with any supporting information.
2. Under what circumstances can I appeal?
You can appeal following any formally declined lending decision or Loan Offer. An application is considered formal when all relevant information that enables a decision to be reached has been provided to us. Requesting an appeal does not guarantee that a decision will be overturned.
3. How much time do I have to appeal a decision?
You have 30 days from the date of the decline letter or Loan Offer letter to appeal a decision.
4. Why can't I make an appeal after 30 days?
The information you provided at the time of your original application can become out of date.
5. What happens if my application has been through an AMC Agent?
An appeal can be made by either you or an Agent.
6. If my lending application is accepted but I do not like the price or the terms offered, can I appeal?
The appeal process has been put in place to support customers who have been declined a lending application or feel that a conditional offer is unacceptable. You can't use this process to appeal the proposed costs of agreed lending, such as interest rates, fees and costs, or our standard terms and conditions. You should discuss these matters with AMC. If you are still unhappy with the way we have dealt with your enquiry, you have the right to pursue a formal complaint and should contact AMC.
7. What is the difference between an appeal and a complaint?
An appeal is a request to review a decision following a formal lending application. It is important that all our customers are confident that if an application for lending is declined, that they can have the decision independently reviewed by another experienced lender. Any issues that are outside of the appeal process should be taken forward as a formal complaint.
8. Can I appeal if I am declined because of an adverse credit rating?
If the reason for the decline is specifically due to an adverse credit history such as County Court Judgements (CCJs) or payment defaults, then the application can be appealed. However, you may need to obtain a full copy of your credit file from a Credit Reference Agency, and be able to prove that an error has occurred or that the circumstances of the adverse information were exceptional. Credit Reference Agencies hold information that helps lenders establish an individual’s credit record.
You are legally entitled to see all the information held about you by any Credit Reference Agency by writing to Experian Limited, Consumer Help Service, PO Box 8000, Nottingham NG80 7WF. For fee details go to www.experian.co.uk or call 0344 481 0800.
If your circumstances have changed significantly since the time of the original application and you would like to re-apply on that basis, we would be happy to consider a new application.
9. If my lending application is declined will you automatically review the decision without me appealing?
We would not automatically review lending decisions.
10. If following an initial discussion with AMC about a lending application it is suggested that my application will not succeed, would I have the right to appeal?
An appeal can only be made after a decline decision following a formal application (see note 2).
11. How quickly will you inform me of the result of the appeal?
You will receive written acknowledgement of receipt of the appeal. We then commit to reviewing your appeal and informing you of the outcome within 30 days of the date of the acknowledgement letter.
12. If my appeal is successful and the original decision is overturned, what happens next?
We will respond in writing to inform you of the outcome of the appeal at which stage AMC will process your application for lending. You will also receive a payment of £150 in recognition of your successful appeal.
13. If my appeal is unsuccessful, how will AMC notify me?
We will respond in writing confirming the outcome of the appeal.