Although these are isolated cases, sometimes due to an error by the bank where they have their savings, some users have become millionaires overnight. Others have found small errors in their accounts: charging commissions, rounding up, operations that have not been carried out or that have been invoiced more than once. In either situation, it is advisable to contact the entity and report the error, even when the mistake favors the user. This mode of action is the best way to avoid problems, even with Justice.
The most frequent errors that customers of financial institutions have to deal with are charging undue commissions for opening or canceling accounts, receiving unsolicited cards, for which they then have to pay, or rounding up rise in loans. Sometimes they are involuntary mistakes, but on other occasions they are campaigns organized by the bank. Many users do not pay much attention to the interest they are charged, or do not remember that the card was only free for the first year. Banks and savings banks know this, and each year they earn millions with these practices.
Although they are not always given due importance, all the receipts, the communications that the entity periodically sends home and the proof of having withdrawn money must be kept. If in any of these documents the user detects a strange movement, a purchase that he does not remember having made or the invoice of a service that he has not contracted, he should immediately consult his bank. A phone call can serve to resolve the doubt. It is also advisable to approach the branch to report the error. If this is the fault of the bank, the most frequent thing is that, without further ado, they check it and solve it at the moment. But if it does not happen in this way, other options remain open to which the client can avail himself.
Customer Support
In addition to the branch employees, to whom a complaint or claim can be filed, entities have two specialized bodies available to users: the Customer Ombudsman and the Customer Service or Department. The latter is an internal, specialized department that must have the necessary autonomy to resolve conflicts that arise. Its existence is legally mandatory. The bank may also have a Customer Ombudsman, although, in this case, its creation is voluntary. It is an external body that acts independently and autonomously.
The client must make the claim to the Ombudsman in writing and must include their personal data and the reasons for the complaint. You can present it at any office open to the public, and the bank must provide the address to which it should be sent. It is essential to carry it out within the established period because otherwise it will be automatically rejected. The specific period in which it can be done is between one and five years: from the moment the error is known, the citizen has 12 months to present his complaint, and more than five years can never elapse since the events occurred.
If the Ombudsman decides to admit the complaint, he will notify the bank and the client, listen to both parties and may request the documentation or reports he deems necessary. Before issuing the resolution, the Ombudsman will try to get the parties to reach an agreement, which will be binding. If it is not successful, it will dictate the resolution within two months and notify it. When it obliges the bank to financially compensate the client, the Ombudsman must indicate the amount, which will never exceed 60,000 euros. The claimant may or may not accept the ruling. In case of doing so, it will be communicated in writing within a month. If you reject it, you can claim through other channels, but if you accept, you waive, in turn, to carry out other claims for the same case. The bank, on the contrary, is obliged to accept the resolution as long as the client has also done so. What options remain if, on the contrary, the Customer Ombudsman does not accept the complaint for processing?
