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Remember those days when you had to actually go to your bank during its working hours just to withdraw cash from your account? Today ATMs have revolutionised the way we bank. We have credit cards, debit cards, Internet and SMS banking. However, these sweeping changes have not brought down complaints against the banking sector. On the other hand, increased awareness has resulted in an escalation in the number of complaints. Only, these now pertain more to the new methods of banking and credit. This is clearly
reflected in the analysis of consumer complaints received by the 15
banking Ombudsmen in the country during 2007-2008. For example, issues
pertaining to credit cards formed the largest chunk of complaints —
ranging from issuance of unsolicited credit cards and insurance
policies to a host of unfair trade practices and incorrect billing.
There were also complaints pertaining to ATMs. Here, most of them were
against public sector banks and largely pertained to ATMs not
releasing cash, even though the amount was shown as having debited
form the account of Out of 47,887 complaints received by the banking Ombudsmen during the year 2007-2008, over 10,000 pertained to credit cards. Similarly, over 6,300 were about the banks’ failure to meet their commitments. This included misrepresentation and misleading information provided by direct selling agents and direct marketing agents of banks, and their failure to fulfil the promises made orally by such agents and even bank officials at the time of marketing of products. Till recently, it was believed that public sector banks were the worst performers, and that private and foreign banks provided excellent service. However, the annual report on the banking Ombudsmen scheme (2007-2008) brought out by the Customer Service Department of the Reserve Bank of India throws up some interesting facts to the contrary. Complaints against private sector banks and foreign banks were far more than those against nationalised banks. While the number of complaints received by the banking Ombudsmen against private sector banks was 7,38,942, against foreign banks operating in India, the number was 3,57,516. As against this, the number of complaints against nationalised banks was 59,708, and against the State Bank group was 21,736. A more or less similar trend was noticed during the previous year, too. The Ombudsman in Delhi received the largest number of complaints (6,742 ) during the period 2007-2008, followed closely by the Ombudsmen in Mumbai and Kanpur. The Ombudsman in Chandigarh received 2,331 during the year. Compared to the previous year, there was a 24 per cent increase during the year. On receipt of a complaint, the Ombudsmen try to resolve the issue through conciliation or mediation. If they fail, then an award is passed, which becomes binding on the bank, once the complainant accepts the award. During the year 2007-2008, nearly 36 per cent of the complaints filed before Ombudsmen were rejected for various reasons such as these being pending in another forum, being time-barred, or because they were filed without sufficient cause, or were outside the jurisdiction their Ombudsmen. But the largest percentage of rejections came from the fact that the complainants had filed them without first seeking their redress from the bank itself. Under the banking Ombudsman scheme, the client has to first try and resolve the grievance with the bank’s in-house redress system, by writing to them. If within a month, there is no satisfactory resolution of the grievance, then he can lodge a report with the Ombudsman.
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