Re:Why Banks Are Suddenly Closing Down Customer Accounts
by crossroadsguy on Sunday November 05, 2023 @09:43PM
(#38158177)
You don’t have an ombudsman? Or something like that? Here in India we can even make them sing exact reason for rejecting credit card applications and if they just did it shoddily then they have to actually issue it. They just can’t say “internal policy” or shit like “discretion”.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Why Banks Are Suddenly Closing Down Customer Accounts
by tjpnz on Sunday November 05, 2023 @10:42PM
(#38158588)
Same thing in New Zealand. If you can't get something worked out with your bank you complain to the ombudsman and the bank must respond. Sometimes, even the mention of a potential ombudsman complaint is enough to grease the wheels.
Re:Why Banks Are Suddenly Closing Down Customer Accounts
by pilchard123 on Monday November 06, 2023 @08:48AM
(#38162510)
In some a case going to the Ombudsman costs the bank regardless of the outcome.
In the UK the first three cases in a year are free, but from the fourth onward the bank has to pay £750 [1]. It doesn't matter the outcome is - the customer could be totally innocent or the next Bernie Madoff - the bank has to pay. A customer saying "I will get the Ombudsman involved" is heard by the bank as "if we don't make this go away right now, we will get charged £750 (plus any compensation the Ombudsman may award)". It does tend to make them sit up and take notice, I hear, presumably because banks get a lot of complaints and so a large bill.
[1]: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/businesses/resolving-...