The Hindu Business Line : Bank customers urged to make use of redressal mechanism

Unsolicited credit cards and issues relating to them, escalation in charges without notice, unauthorised debits are among major grievances customers are seeking solutions to, according to the banking Ombudsman, Dr Deepali Pant Joshi.

Addressing a press conference here, Ms Joshi invited customers to make use of the consumer redressal mechanism, which has become a key forum for dispute resolution.

The office of banking ombudsman, which has now come under the RBI management, as opposed to the earlier system of being managed by the banking industry, has received over 1,500 grievances, of them about 1,200 have been sorted out and another 300 are pending disposals.

Speaking about the office of banking ombudsman, she said the exponential retail growth and the growing middle class had brought about a significant change in banking requirements, opening up opportunities to cross sell products and services.

But this growth has also brought about concerns from a consumer perspective.

Often, customers are faced with certain service issues, and find that there is no effective solution to the problem.

She called upon banks to display a board that refers to how banking ombudsman can help a customer with grievance.

However, he must first make use of the mechanism available in the bank before approaching the ombudsman.

In fact, she said that customers were welcome to make complaints online.

Many complaints are being taken suo motu based on customers' complaints and letters to the editor in newspapers. Ms Joshi said the ombudsman would consider complaints from non-resident Indians having accounts in India relating to their remittances from abroad, deposits and other bank-related issues.

She emphasised that the ombudsman does not charge any fee for addressing customer complaints.

The ombudsman has the authority to address issues relating to instructions of the RBI on ATM/debit card operations and credit cards.