Can my business complain about a supplier payment?
Yes, potentially: the Financial Ombudsman can consider eligible business complaints about financial services. Complain to your provider first, then ask the Ombudsman to check eligibility and scope. Prepare payment records and evidence of loss. Keep supplier correspondence alongside records from Cambridge China Bridge.
Identify the payment complaint
The Ombudsman can take an independent look at an unresolved bank complaint. For a currency provider, ask it to confirm whether the particular service and complaint fall within the Ombudsman's remit. Describe the payment handling you dispute: incorrect instructions, unexplained deductions, delay, return or an unsuccessful attempt to trace the money.
Keep the payment complaint separate from any dispute over the goods. Match the provider's account of events against the supplier's receipt records. Use delayed or returned international payments for the operational checks while you prepare your complaint.
Prepare your eligibility checks
The Ombudsman can help micro-enterprises and small businesses, including self-employed people, partnerships and limited companies. Start with its eligibility checker, named in the sources below. Before investigating, it must check that the complaint falls within its rules and powers; completing the checker does not replace that assessment.
Have your latest year-end accounts, turnover, balance sheet, staffing records and ownership structure ready. Record employees and contractors separately and identify connected businesses. Ask the Ombudsman to confirm the relevant size thresholds, assessment date and treatment of connected businesses. Flag older events, changes in ownership or an unusually large trading year rather than assuming the headline figures settle eligibility.
Complain to the provider first
Give the financial business a chance to resolve the complaint before referring it to the Ombudsman. Send a written complaint identifying your business, account, transfer reference, supplier and disputed handling. Explain what you instructed, what happened and what you want corrected. Ask for acknowledgement, a complaint reference and its applicable final-response deadline.
Request a payment trace, the reason for any rejection or deduction, and the provider's account of any recall attempt. Keep the original complaint and delivery confirmation. If the transfer involved suspected deception, also follow supplier bank transfer fraud and preserve the altered payment instructions.
Build a payment and loss evidence pack
Prepare a dated chronology supported by the supplier invoice, beneficiary instructions, transfer confirmation, account statements, agreed exchange rate and charges, provider messages, and supplier confirmation of receipt or non-receipt. Mark the difference between a payment being submitted, leaving your account and reaching the beneficiary.
List each claimed loss and attach the underlying invoice, debit or calculation. Explain how it arose from the disputed handling and what you did to limit it. Separate documented costs from estimates, and record refunds already received. For future transfers, use comparing banks and payment providers to clarify tracing, charges and support before paying.
Refer promptly and keep the order moving
Normally, refer the complaint within six months of the date of the financial business's final response letter. Keep that letter and record the referral deadline immediately. If the provider has not replied, ask the Ombudsman whether the applicable response period has expired. Ask it to check other time limits too, particularly for older events.
Prepare your business details, account reference, correspondence, requested remedy and evidence pack before contacting the Ombudsman. Keep proof of your referral. Separately, agree with the supplier how production or dispatch will be handled while the payment is disputed. Avoid sending a replacement payment until you have checked where the original funds are.
Frequently asked questions
Can a sole trader complain to the Financial Ombudsman?
Potentially. Self-employed people are among the businesses it can help, but business eligibility and the complaint's scope still need checking.
Can I complain about a currency transfer company?
Ask whether your particular transfer service falls within the Ombudsman's remit. Keep the provider's legal name, account agreement and payment records ready for that check.
What evidence should I keep for a missing supplier payment?
Keep the invoice, beneficiary instructions, transfer reference, statements, payment trace, provider correspondence and supplier receipt records. Add a chronology and evidence for each claimed loss.
How long do I have after the bank's final response?
Normally, six months from the date of the final response letter. Record the deadline immediately and ask the Ombudsman to check any issue with timing.