Case law
Kifid
Kifid, the Dutch Financial Services Complaints Institute, has existed since 2007 and is recognised by the Minister of Finance as an alternative dispute resolution body for financial complaints. Complaints about insurance, mortgages, payment services, credit, credit registration and debt collection are handled by its Disputes Committee; a binding decision can be appealed to the Appeals Committee. Kifid publishes its decisions in a public rulings register.
Go to the publisher’s websiteWhich products consult this source
LEO — Direct consultation
The source is consulted directly while the work is being done.
Availability depends on your organisation’s configuration and access rights.
What this source does not give you
Kifid can only handle complaints against financial service providers registered with it; the provider register shows which. The complaint must first have gone through the provider's internal complaints procedure, and must then reach Kifid within three months of the provider's final response or within one year of the original notification. Matters already put before a court or another dispute body are not accepted, and small-business complaints are capped at one million euro.
Legal domains for which LEO consults this source
Dutch legal domains; each link opens the domain page on leo.prudai.com.
Frequently asked questions
- Is a Kifid decision binding on the insurer or the bank?
- That depends on who complains and what has been agreed. For a consumer, Kifid rules by way of binding advice if both the consumer and the provider want that; if either declines, or the consumer makes no choice, the ruling is non-binding. Whether a provider has consented to binding advice is shown in the provider register on kifid.nl. For a small-business complainant, Kifid always rules by way of binding advice.
- When is a decision non-binding even though both parties wanted it binding?
- The rules set monetary thresholds. In a consumer complaint the ruling is non-binding to the extent that Kifid awards more than 250,000 euro where the provider is a member of the Dutch Association of Insurers or the Dutch Banking Association, and more than 100,000 euro where it is not, in both cases excluding default interest and costs. For small-business financing complaints the thresholds are 250,000 euro and, for financing-advice complaints under the SME advice code, 50,000 euro. Parties may agree otherwise.
- What does a Kifid procedure cost?
- For consumers, filing a complaint is free and handling by the Disputes Committee is free as well. Appealing to the Appeals Committee costs 500 euro.
- Can a provider still go to court after a binding decision?
- Both parties can, subject to conditions, appeal a binding decision to Kifid's Appeals Committee. Alternatively, the financial service provider may bring the complaint before the civil court within two months of receiving the binding decision, but only if it can show the court that its own interest or that of its sector in the outcome exceeds five million euro.
- Are the decisions public, and do they name the parties?
- Kifid places the decision in the rulings register on kifid.nl, including the written record of an oral decision. The complainant's name and other personal data are not mentioned, and Kifid may choose to omit the names and personal data of others as well. The hearing itself is not public.