Have your bank made an error?
Have you suffered a loss because of it?
Do you want the error to be corrected?
Is your bank not accepting its mistake?
If the answers to all these questions are affirmative, then you have landed at a right place. Even though you have not experienced any mistake by your bank, then also you should know what to do when it happens. Banks occasionally make errors but banking errors can at times be heart shaking. There are different types of mistakes made by banks and accordingly there are different ways to handle the issues. There may be a wrong charge levied to your account, instead of crediting your account somebody else’s account may be credited, a cheque may be returned without honoring it when in fact everything in it was correct and the account has adequate balance to pay against it, may be an error in the spelling of your name or error in your correspondence address and so on. There are certain mistakes which can be dealt easily. However, there are some mistakes that become a matter of concern and can cause the dispute between the bank and the customer to become complex.
Steps you should follow
The following steps will help you when you encounter a mistake by your bank:
Step 1: Under such situation, what you can do is make the banker aware of the mistake and give them all the documents or proofs that you can provide or else give him the details of the transactions. This usually works for simple problems.
Step 2: For arguable and complex matters, make the complaint to the bank’s complaint department in writing stating the issue and the problems encountered by you because of the bank’s mistake.
Step 3: If despite your complaint, you do not receive any correspondence from the bank. Write a complaint stating the events in a chronological order to the higher authorities (regional or zonal manager) of the bank. Their contact details can be taken from the bank.
Step 4: If the bank still fails to resolve your grievance or rejects your complaint or does not respond to it within a month’s time, then you can lodge a complaint with the Bank Ombudsman or can take a legal action against the bank.
Banking Ombudsman
It is a quasi judicial authority having power to summon both bank and its customers. The main purpose of this body is to facilitate resolution of complaints. All scheduled commercial banks, scheduled primary co-operative banks and regional rural banks are covered under the jurisdiction of it. A complaint can either be sent in writing to the office of the ombudsman under whose jurisdiction your branch of the bank is located or else an online complaint can be made at www.bankingombudsman.rbi.org.in. A complaint can be filed against the bank within one year of the date of action. This service is available free of cost. However, a complaint by ombudsman will not be accepted if the complainant has not tried to get it resolved with the branch or else if the case is already pending or is under process with any forum or consumer court.
Step 5: If the complainant is not satisfied with the Ombudsman, then an appeal for redressal can be made to the appellate within 30 days or else a suit can be filed against the bank with court or with consumer redressal forum.
