Getting the right outcome for bank complaints

Banks make mistakes

Access to banking services is essential and almost all of us are customers of at least one bank. So it’s not surprising that things sometimes go wrong and banks make mistakes. But it can still feel frustrating when you have a bad experience with your bank and it’s not a simple fix. Thankfully you can follow a process to get your complaint heard and resolved by your bank.

You have a complaint about your bank

To manage complaints, all banks need to have an “Internal Dispute Resolution” (or IDR) process. This means that if something goes wrong with your bank, you can make a complaint directly to the bank’s IDR team, a specialist team that resolves complaints.

Here are some important points to keep in mind about the the IDR process for bank complaints:

• The contact details for the IDR team should be on the bank’s website or their Financial Services Guide. You can also search for these details on the “Find a Financial Firm” tool on the website of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.
• It’s a good idea to use the word “complaint” in the heading or subject line when writing to the bank.
• Once you send your complaint, the bank is expected to quickly confirm that they’ve received your complaint.
• The bank may be in touch with you by phone, email or post. If you have a preferred way of communicating with the bank, let the bank know when making your complaint.

Get the right outcome for your bank complaint

When making a complaint to the bank, you should cover these important points:

1. What's the problem? What went wrong with the bank?
2. What evidence do you have about this problem?
3. How has the problem impacted you?
4. What do you want the bank to do to fix the problem?

Let’s see this in action. Imagine Marta is a long time customer of Little Bank. She’s had a bad experience that she wants to resolve. Marta contacts Little Bank to say that she’d like to make a complaint to the IDR team. These magic words get her to the right team in Little Bank. Here’s what Marta tells the bank:

1. She believes she’s been charged an incorrect fee.
2. She provides a copy of her bank statement showing the incorrect fee. She also highlights the bank’s terms and conditions which show that the fee should be lower.
3. She explains that this issue has had a financial impact for her. She also says that it’s been stressful trying to resolve the issue in person at a branch.
4. She asks Little Bank to immediately refund the incorrect fee and confirm that the bank will charge her the right fee going forward.

By following these steps, Marta should be able to resolve her bank complaint quickly and practically. But If the bank doesn’t resolve the issue, she could consider escalating her complaint to the banking ombudsman, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.

Mistakes are always going to happen. Luckily, if you’re feeling frustrated about a mistake that your bank has made, you can take comfort in knowing that there’s a structured process you can follow. Just like Marta, you can make a complaint to your bank and get the mistake resolved with the right outcome.

And if you want to make things even easier, you can use Ajust to make a bank complaint. Ajust is free for consumers and our platform works for complaints about any Australian bank. You just tell us what happened and then we take care of the rest.