Record number of complaints in 2021: Which banks have unhappy clients?

By Larry John Brown

Published: May 15, 2022 | 3:45 PM GMT

According to EyeWitness News, this was due to changes in banking habits and trends caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

With more people using internet banking due to lockdown, the OBS finalised 8 039 cases in 2021, up 9% from 7 230 cases in 2020.

Ombud Reana Steyn said banks are battling to address the change from traditional banking to internet banking.

“2021 brought with it some serious financial challenges for most South African banking consumers. These consumers had to turn to the OBS for intervention,” Business Tech quoted her as saying.

WHICH BANKS RECEIVED THE MOST COMPLAINTS?

TymeBank saw a major increase of 870% of complaints logged in 2021. While this may be the case, this is only 233 of the 8 039 complaints received by OBS. The bank had received a very low base of only 24 complaints in 2020, Business Tech reports.

Meanwhile, Business Insider reported that complaints against Standard Bank increased by nearly 32%, making it the only one to breach 2 000 complaints last year.

Capitec also saw an increase in complaints from 1,259 cases in 2020 to 1 651 in 2021, which is a 31.1% increase.

Absa had a 13.3% increase as cases rose from 943 in 2020 to 1 068 cases in 2021.

Nedbank cases rose by 4.3%, with 1 273 cases opened against them.

When it comes to good performance, FNB and Discovery are the only two who had a significant decrease in complaints. For FNB, complaints dropped from 2 197 complaints in 2020 to 1 452 complaints in 2021 – a 34% decrease – while Discovery saw a 26.7% decrease.

WHICH WERE THE BIGGEST COMPLAINTS BY BANK CUSTOMERS?

According to Steyn, internet banking accounted for 19% of the total complaints opened. This was followed by service-related complaints, which includes maladministration, repossession, account closures and consumers disputing the fees or interest rates.

“There was an increase of 2% (from 6% in 2020 to 8% in 2021) in the number of complaints opened for vehicle finance-related issues,” Steyn said.

WERE THE CASES RESOLVED?

Steyn also found that 73% of the matters resolved by the OBS in 2021 favoured the banks. This means that in 5,846 (72.7%) cases, there was no legal or fair reason to uphold the complaint against the bank.

However, she said R19.4 million was awarded and offered to complainants by her office in a bid to intervene.

About Larry John Brown

Larry John is a talented writer and journalist based in New York, USA. He is a valued contributor to TDPel Media, where he creates engaging and informative content for readers. Larry has a keen interest in current events, business, and technology, and he enjoys exploring these topics in-depth to provide readers with a comprehensive understanding of the issues. His writing style is characterized by its clarity, precision, and attention to detail, which make his articles a pleasure to read. Larry’s passion for storytelling has earned him a reputation as a skilled writer and a respected authority in his field.