Key Retirement Solutions Limited · DRN-6207693

The complaint This complaint’s about an equity release lifetime mortgage Mrs and Mr D took out in 2015 on the advice and recommendation of Key Retirement Solutions Limited. Mrs and Mr D’s representative, Ms K, complains that the mortgage was mis-sold. She’s also unhappy with the marketing material Key has sent them from time to time. What happened The mortgage was taken out in 2015; Ms K, on Mrs and Mr D’s behalf, complained in 2025. When the case reached us, our Investigator considered that the complaint about the sale of the mortgage was “time-barred” under our rules. On the part of the complaint that fell within our remit, the provision of marketing material, the Investigator didn’t think Key had done anything wrong. Ms K wanted to continue with it, so it came to me to review. By way of a decision dated 3 March 2026, I set out the reasons why my remit to consider this complaint is confined under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service to Key Retirement Solutions Limited sending Mrs and Mr D promotional marketing material between May 2019 (six years prior to the start of the complaint) and the date in October 2023 when it stopped. What I’ve decided – and why I’ll make some general observations before dealing with the specifics of the complaint. We’re not the regulator of financial businesses, and we don’t “police” their internal processes or how they operate generally. That’s the job of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). We deal with individual disputes between businesses and their customers. In doing that, we don’t replicate the work of the courts. We’re impartial, and we don’t take either side’s instructions on how we investigate a complaint. We conduct our investigations and reach our conclusions without interference from anyone else. But in doing so, we have to work within the rules of the ombudsman service, and the remit those rules give us. I’ve considered all the available evidence and arguments to decide what’s fair and reasonable in the circumstances of this complaint. There’s nothing inherently wrong with financial businesses sending promotional material to their customers. It’s an established practice that has been the norm for many years in almost every sector of business. Ms K’s complaint on Mrs and Mr D’s behalf is about the fact that material was sent to them, and the regularity with which it was sent. The word she has used is “relentless”. As I’ve said, businesses are allowed to send such material, but if their customers ask them not to, they should stop. Key sent material to Mrs and Mr D on various dates between April 2020 and October 2023, typically at three-month intervals, which does not seem excessive to me. It has included a representative sample of the type of letter it sent, and as is standard

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practice, the letter includes a narrative at the end informing the recipient(s) that they can ask for such material to stop being sent if they prefer. That might well be what happened here, as no more material was sent to Mrs and Mr D after October 2023. It’s possible that was down to a change in Key’s marketing selection criteria, or it could equally be because Mrs and/or Mr D asked it to stop. If it were the latter, then Key did what I’d expect it to do – that is, comply with its customers’ wishes – and I’ve no reason to believe it would have done anything different if the request had been made sooner. If it were the former, then it might be because Mrs and Mr D had never responded to any of the material they’d received. Either way, it is difficult for me to conclude that the sending of the material caused them detriment. My final decision For the reasons set out above, I don’t uphold this complaint. My final decision concludes this service’s consideration of this complaint, which means I’ll not be engaging in any further consideration or discussion of the merits of it. Under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I’m required to ask Mrs and Mr D to accept or reject my decision before 6 April 2026. Jeff Parrington Ombudsman

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