Yorkshire Building Society (YBS) has been fined over £4m for failings when dealing with borrowers experiencing difficulties with their mortgage payments.

Between October 2011 and the end of July 2012, call handlers at YBS failed to deal properly with such customers in order to identify promptly the cause of their problems and their future financial prospects.

According to the FCA, these failures led to significant delays in determining the most appropriate payment solutions.

It says that YBS properly viewed repossession as a last resort but failed to recognise that these delays meant that some customers incurred increased fees and associated interest. YBS has already started to refund these customers.

Tracey McDermott, FCA director of enforcement and financial crime at the regulator, said: “Customers in financial difficulty need to be treated fairly and sensitively.

“Firms must ensure that they are taking into account the particular circumstances affecting customers who find themselves in difficulty.

“Firms need to be dealing with these customers proactively, without delays, in order to ensure they are not losing out.

“By allowing cases to drift without agreement, YBS’s actions meant that customers in vulnerable circumstances risked falling into further financial difficulty.”

YBS agreed to settle at an early stage of the FCA investigation and therefore qualified for a 30% (stage 1) discount.

The fine was £4,135,600.