Credit, debit card complaints dip 26% in AP

Credit card and debit card-related complaints in Andhra Pradesh have come down to 26 per cent this year, from 38 per cent last year, according to a report on the working of the banking ombudsman scheme in AP for the year 2010-11.

“The claims were related to the charges, finances and disputed transactions,” M Sebastian, banking ombudsman (AP), Reserve Bank of India, told mediapersons here on Friday.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s ombudsman scheme (2006) provides a forum to bank customers for expeditious and inexpensive resolution of complaints relating to deficiency in specified banking services.

The state has received a total of 5,012 complaints this year through the banking ombudsman, as against 5,622 complaints received last year. The inflow of the complaints moderated during the year after persistent surge during the previous two years, he said.

Of the total, complaints relating to loans and advances accounted for 15.22 per cent, while complaints relating to delay in disbursement of railways and defence services pension formed 11.41 per cent.

The number of complaints from metropolitan areas constituted 44.03 per cent of the total complaints, followed by urban areas at 26.12 per cent, semi-urban areas at 18.6 per cent and rural areas at 11.79 per cent.

“More than 30 per cent of the complaints are from rural and semi-urban areas, whereas the volume of bank transactions was more in metropolitan cities. We are putting our efforts in taking the ombudsman scheme to the remotest of villages to reach the customers,” he said.

The RBI has a CTS system to help the customers in filing online complaints. The banks have taken initiatives and made arrangements to reduce the grievances. Of the total complaints, around 61.25 per cent of them had been settled, Sebastian said.