Priyanka Sambhav
Do you have an issue with your bank? Do you feel your bank has not taken adequate steps to resolve your concern or didn’t bother to give a response to your problem? Frustrated with your bank’s complaint redressal mechanism, then you should reach out to banking ombudsman(BO)with your complaint. The BO is appointed by the bank regulator Reserve Bank of India(RBI) to resolve consumer grievances regarding banking services.
The RBI introduced the Banking Ombudsman Scheme in 2006 to enable bank consumers to raise their banking-related complaints. In 2017, RBI widened the scope of BO and included mis-selling complaints of insurance, mutual funds and any other third party products by banks too in the ombudsman scheme.
Issues that can be raised by consumers
The BO has a comprehensive list of issues on which a consumer can complain. BO including online banking related issues can take up following deficiencies –
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Non-payment or inordinate delay in the payment or collection of cheques, drafts, bills, etc.
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Non-payment or delay in payment of inward remittances.
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Failure to issue or delay in issue of drafts, pay orders or bankers’ cheques.
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Non-adherence to prescribed working hours.
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Failure to provide or delay in providing a banking facility (other than loans and advances) promised in writing by a bank or its direct selling agents.
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Refusal to open deposit accounts without any valid reason for the refusal.
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Levying of charges without adequate prior notice to the customer.
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Non-adherence by the bank or its subsidiaries to the instructions of RBI on ATM/debit card operations or credit card operations.
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Non-disbursement or delay in disbursement of pension (to the extent the grievance can be attributed to the action on the part of the bank concerned, but not with regard to its employees).
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Refusal to accept or delay in accepting payment towards taxes, as required by RBI/government.
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Refusal to close or delay in closing the accounts.
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Non-observance of RBI guidelines on engagement of recovery agents by banks.
How can I file a complaint to Banking Ombudsman?
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First and foremost, you file your complaint with the bank and if the bank fails to answer you in 30 days or the response received does not give you a resolution, then you approach the banking ombudsman(BO). You must approach the BO within a year of receiving a reply or within a year or a month of making representation.
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Please locate the right BO’s jurisdiction under which the bank branch against whom you have a complaint is covered. Place your complaint to the right BO branch. For any card-related issue or any other centralized operations, your billing address will determine the jurisdiction of banking ombudsman.
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One can easily fill the online complaint form on banking ombudsman official website- www.bankingombudsman.rbi.org.
in. Do give all the details regarding your complaint with accurate information. You can send the complaint in written mode or through the banking ombudsman website. -
Submit the copies of your documents that are proof of your case along with the complaint form.
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Once banking ombudsman has received your complaint form, they will examine your case and the validity of the same. After going through the matter banking ombudsman will either try for a settlement through mediation between the bank and the customer or can go further and ask banks to pay compensation if need be.
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But even after taking it up with banking ombudsman, you are not satisfied with the resolution, you have the right to approach the consumer forum as the last recourse.
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The consumers have to pay no fee for grievance redressal by banking ombudsman.
