You live in Spain, but the fintech app you used is registered in Lithuania. Suing them isn't realistic — but a free EU network built for exactly this situation is.
Why Cross-Border Fintech Complaints Are Genuinely Harder
Many popular fintech apps and payment providers operate across the entire EU while being formally licensed and headquartered in just one member state — commonly Lithuania, Malta, or Ireland, among others. If something goes wrong and the provider won't resolve it directly, pursuing a claim through your own country's ordinary complaint bodies often isn't possible, because those bodies typically only have jurisdiction over firms licensed in their own country.
What FIN-NET Actually Does
FIN-NET is a network of national out-of-court dispute resolution bodies across the EU/EEA, established specifically to help consumers resolve cross-border financial disputes without needing to go through the courts or navigate a foreign country's complaint system alone. Through FIN-NET, you generally submit your complaint through your own country's relevant national body (or directly to the counterpart body in the provider's home country), and the network helps route and coordinate the complaint to the body with actual jurisdiction over the specific financial firm.
When FIN-NET Is the Right Tool
FIN-NET applies specifically when you, as a consumer, are based in one EU/EEA country and the financial services provider is based and licensed in a different one. It's designed for exactly the situation of a Spanish resident having an unresolved dispute with a Lithuania-licensed payment app, or an Irish resident disputing a charge with a Malta-licensed platform.
How to Use It
- Complain directly to the financial firm first, and get their final response (or wait a reasonable period without one).
- Identify which EU country the firm is actually licensed/headquartered in — check the app's terms of service or regulatory disclosures.
- Contact your own country's national out-of-court dispute resolution body and ask specifically about referring a cross-border complaint via FIN-NET.
- Provide your complaint documentation — the firm's final response (or evidence of no response), and your evidence of what went wrong.
What This Means for You
- Don't assume you have no recourse just because a fintech or bank is licensed in a different EU country than where you live.
- Identify the provider's actual home country before starting the complaint process — this determines which body ultimately has jurisdiction.
- Use your own country's national dispute resolution body as your entry point — you generally don't need to navigate a foreign system alone.
- This process is free — you shouldn't need to pay a claims company to access it.
Related Kibbo Tools
- Bank Complaint / FIN-NET Ombudsman Escalation Generator →
- Financial Complaint & Escalation Evidence Log (Template) →
Sources
- European Commission — FIN-NET, financial dispute resolution network. finance.ec.europa.eu