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Barclays' banking and mortgage complaints rise in third quarter

The Barclays logo is seen outside a branch of the bank in central London October 30, 2014. REUTERS/Toby Melville

By Matt Scuffham LONDON (Reuters) - British bank Barclays said it had seen an increase in complaints relating to its banking services and mortgages in the third quarter of the year, although complaints about the mis-selling of loan insurance declined. Barclays, which has 48 million customers, said total complaints fell by 7 percent to 151,000, compared with the same period a year ago. That included a 21 percent fall in complaints about insurance to 91,300, the vast majority of which related to the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI) in Britain. Barclays said the increase in mortgage and banking complaints was "wholly unacceptable". General banking complaints rose by 29 percent to 55,000. Barclays said the increase was driven largely by claims management companies, which take a cut of whatever compensation they obtain for customers. Complaints about mortgages rose by 18 percent to 2,700, which the bank said was due to growth in the number of applications that it handles. British banks have so far set aside more than 23 billion pounds to compensate customers mis-sold PPI. The policies were supposed to protect borrowers against sickness or redundancy but were often sold to those who would be ineligible to claim. (Editing by Keith Weir and Pravin Char)