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Consumers get back R16m from banks

Cape Town - The 2013 annual report of the Ombudsman for Banking Services (OBS) showed that R16m was recovered from banks out of more than 1 900 complaints, which were found in favour of the consumer.

Among these were 72 debit order issues, dealing particularly with unauthorised debits, 38 (53%) of which went the way of the complainant.

The OBS dealt with 4 950 cases last year, relating to issues such as mobile banking, credit cards, ATMs, mortgages and car finance.

ATMs top bank complaints

More than 1 800 complaints were related to automated teller machines (ATMs), which accounted for 23% of all complaints.

The majority of ATM cases were deemed to be the result of consumers compromising their personal details, resulting in a greater number of findings for the banks.

However, the report noted that the number of ATM complaints can also be attributed to security measures taken by banks to stem electronic banking fraud.

"Criminals are returning to the 'easier pickings' of automatic tellers, resorting at times to removing the toll-free numbers from the machines to delay victims' alerts to the banks."

Internet banking

About 200 more internet banking complaints were investigated than in 2012, which is to be expected given the surge in electronic banking and the rapidly growing numbers of bank customers.

Ombudsman Clive Pillay pointed out that an increasing number of complaints were resolved when the matter was referred back to the bank with an OBS recommendation.

"This reflects the willingness of the banks to abide by our rulings, which are seen as bias-free," he said.

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