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Journalism of Courage
Over 50 per cent of 85,131 complaints received by the banking ombudsman during 2014-15 were pertaining to failure to meet commitments, non-observance of fair practices code and credit/debit cards, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said.
Complaints pertaining to failure to meet commitments, non-observance of fair practices code, Banking Codes and Standards Board of India (BCSBI) codes taken together constituted the largest category of complaints with 29.2 per cent of complaints received. On the other hand, card related complaints comprised 21.3 per cent of total complaints received. Complaints pertaining to ATM/debit card operations comprised 12.5 per cent of total complaints received and 8.8 per cent complaints were pertaining to credit card operations, the RBI said.
Out of a total of 18,123 card related complaints, 10,651 complaints were pertaining to ATM/debit cards (12.51 per cent of complaints received). Of these, 6,990 complaints were about failure of ATM cash withdrawal transactions involving short payment/non-payment of cash.
“With expansion of customer base and the ATM network, proportion of such complaints is on the rise,” RBI said in its annual report on the banking ombudsman scheme.
“These complaints also involve alleged fraudulent withdrawals from ATMs. In all such complaints BOs mainly rely on the documentary evidence such as JP Log, electronic journal, switch report etc. The CCTV footage is an important evidence in deciding the nature of the transaction, whether authorised or fraudulent and the veracity of the complainant’s contention. CCTV footage has also thrown light on some dubious practices employed by fraudsters,” the RBI said.
In card related complaints, 7,472 complaints pertained to credit card operations of banks. These complaints were mainly about issue of unsolicited cards, sale of unsolicited insurance policies and recovery of premium along with card charges, charging of annual fees in spite of being offered as ‘free’ card, authorisation of loans over phone, wrong billing, settlement offers conveyed telephonically, non-settlement of insurance claims after the demise of the card holder, exorbitant charges, high-handed practices by recovery agents and wrong reporting of credit information by banks to credit information companies, RBI said.
