The financial ombudsman Joe Meade has brought six issues to the attention of the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority in the last nine months. He believes they are causing, or could cause, widespread problems for consumers.

The six issues include the failure of one financial institution to notify customers of the interest rates on their products, poor record-keeping at another financial institution and inadequate information being given on the sale of a particular pensions product.

Mr Meade wrote to the financial regulator last year recommending that lenders be obliged to give consumers more information about how to cancel mortgage protection policies, to avoid situations where consumers continue to pay for unwanted protection policies after they have cleared their mortgages early.

Mr Meade also has concerns that travel agents who sell travel insurance are not regulated by the financial regulator and has asked it to consider setting up a code of practice.

Confusion over consumer rights in situations where they make a cash payment for a credit card bill before the due date but the card provider does not receive the payment until after the due date has also emerged.

A spokeswoman for the financial regulator said matters brought to its attention would be fully looked into and action taken if required.

Between the establishment of his office in April 2005 and the end of the year, the ombudsman received 2,604 complaints against insurance companies and credit institutions, an increase of 23 per cent on the number of complaints made to the previous voluntary ombudsman schemes in the same period in 2004.

A total of 119 new complaints has been made against intermediaries, 23 complaints against credit unions and 19 against stockbrokers.