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Two Ombud Offices, Two Jobs
The split is simple once you see it: one office deals with what happened to your claim, the other with what happened when you were advised and sold the policy. The National Financial Ombud, or NFO, owns the claim side; the FAIS Ombud owns the advice-and-conduct side.
Both are free to consumers and independent of the insurer, and both can issue rulings that bind the provider. The only real decision you have to make is which door to knock on, and that follows directly from the nature of your grievance.
What the NFO Handles
The NFO deals with claim disputes — a claim that was wrongly declined, settled for too little, or unreasonably delayed. It covers short-term insurance products that most motorists hold: car, home, contents, travel and similar cover.
Its service is free, and its determinations bind the insurer within set monetary thresholds. If your problem is about the outcome of a claim, the NFO is almost always the right office.
What the FAIS Ombud Handles
The FAIS Ombud deals with the advice and the sale rather than the claim. It steps in where a financial services provider gave misleading advice, sold you an unsuitable product, failed to disclose something material, or otherwise breached its conduct duties.
Its rulings bind the provider up to a statutory limit per complaint. If your problem is that you were steered wrong or kept in the dark when you took the policy, the FAIS Ombud is the office that hears it.
The 2024 Merger You Should Know About
On 1 March 2024 the National Financial Ombud Scheme absorbed the former Ombudsman for Short-Term Insurance, the OSTI, along with the long-term insurance, banking and credit ombud schemes. So the office many people still call 'the OSTI' is now part of the NFO.
In practice this means short-term insurance claim disputes that once went to the OSTI now go to the NFO, under one roof. The function is unchanged; only the name and the front door have moved.
Which One Applies to Your Case
Map the complaint to the office: a claim declined, a settlement too low, or a payment delayed all go to the NFO. The wrong product sold to you, misleading information about what the cover did, or an excess never disclosed at the point of sale all go to the FAIS Ombud.
When you are genuinely unsure, start with the NFO — if a complaint really belongs with FAIS, it will be redirected rather than lost. The cost of guessing wrong is a little time, not the complaint itself.
How to Lodge a Complaint
First exhaust the insurer's own internal complaints process and get its final response in writing, because both ombud offices expect you to have done so. Keep every document — the policy schedule, the claim correspondence, the decline letter and any advice records.
Then lodge with the right office: the NFO through its online portal for a claim dispute, or the FAIS Ombud through its complaint process for an advice or sales complaint. A complete file with a clear timeline of events is what lets either office move quickly.
When Your Claim Exceeds the Limit
Each office can only bind a provider up to its monetary jurisdiction. Where your dispute is worth more than the relevant ombud limit, the matter falls to the courts instead, and legal advice becomes worthwhile given the amounts and complexity involved.
For the great majority of motor and household disputes, though, the value sits comfortably within the ombud limits, which is exactly why the ombud route exists — to resolve ordinary consumer disputes without the cost and delay of litigation.