Second-charge complaints hold at 3,108 as home finance complaints fall

Firms reported 3,108 complaints about second and subsequent charge mortgages in the first half of 2026, according to FCA data published on 22 October. That compares with 3,097 in the second half of 2025, a rise of 0.4%, and 3,418 a year earlier, a fall of 9.1%.¹

Across the five home finance lines in the FCA's tables, complaints fell 3.7% to 72,870, by our count. Equity release complaints fell 10.8% to 1,756, other regulated home finance 3.8% to 55,889 and unregulated home finance 3.2% to 11,722. Impaired credit complaints fell from 409 to 395.¹

Firms in every sector reported 1.85 million complaints between January and June 2026, up 6.3% on the second half of 2025. They upheld 54.8% of the complaints they closed and paid £240m in redress.²

The count held steady while lending grew: the number of new second-charge agreements over the 12 months to August 2026 was up 16% on the year.³

Second charge made up about 4.3% of home finance complaints in the half, up from 4.1% six months earlier, by our calculation.¹

These are complaints firms received. The FCA's tables don't show how many second-charge complaints were upheld, or what they were about. Complaints that reach the Financial Ombudsman Service are counted separately, and our analysis of its data looks at which ones it upholds.¹

The FCA publishes data for the second half of 2026 on 29 April 2027, and for the first half of 2027 on 21 October 2027.²