File a complaint against Bank services

Banking Complaints

A bank refers to a financial institution that accepts deposits and creates credit. Banks are of utmost importance to the economy and are a safe place to deposit excess cash.

The Indian Banking sector is ranked 6th across the globe. With many private sector and public sector banks thriving in India, the banking industry is congruously capitalised and well-regulated by the Reserve Bank of India. The stats on market, credit and liquidity bespeak the handy preparedness to sustain any global crisis.

India is presently home to 34 banks out of which 22 are private sector banks, and 12 are public-owned banks. Multiple other Foreign Private Sector Banks are operating as part of the Indian banking sector as well. Let us take a look at the Top 5 Famous Banks in India.

Famous Banks in India

1. State Bank of India: SBI is the oldest and also the largest bank functioning in India and has been a Fortune 500 company for 14 long years. Post-Independence, the State Bank of India got enacted on 1st July 1955. It has its headquarters located in Mumbai, the financial capital of the country.

The bank has 57 Zonal centres and 14 Local centres with 85,356 branches and 59,291 ATMs pan India. SBI has a market cap of INR 2,93,218.11 crores with a market share of 23% with its presence in 36+ countries. It has been recognised as the Best Transaction Bank & Best Payment Bank in India.

Total Assets – INR 30 lakh crores
Revenue – INR 3.68 lakh crores
Number of employees – 2,64,041

2. HDFC Bank: The bank is well known for receiving first 'in principle' consent from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which authorised it to set up a bank in the private sector. It was founded in August 1994 given the liberalisation that took place in the Indian Banking Industry.

The bank started its operations as a Commercial Bank from January 1995. With its headquarters in Mumbai, The Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC) functions across 2,768 towns and cities with 5,314 branches and 13,610 ATMs in India. It has a market cap of Rs.6,25,666 crores as of 2019.

Total Assets – INR 11.89 lakh crores
Revenue – INR 1.17 lakh crores
Number of employees – 98,061

3. ICICI (Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India) Bank Private Limited: It occupies the second place when it comes to volume of assets operated by the bank. The bank is the second largest in terms of market cap and total assets, making it the leading private sector bank in India.

ICICI was formed in 1994 with the principal aim to offer medium-term and long-term project funding to Indian businesses. The bank has its headquarters in Mumbai with its registered office in Vadodara, Gujarat. It currently has its footprint across India with 5,275 branches and 15,589 ATMs along with its presence in 16 countries outside India.

Total Assets – Rs. 13.77 trillion
Revenue – INR 1.49 lakh crores
Total employees – 82,724

4. Punjab National Bank: The Punjab National Bank, PNB is the third-largest bank functioning in India. The bank serves more than 80 million customers with 7000 branches and 10,681 ATMs, expanding its footprint to 764 cities. It currently operates from its head office located in New Delhi.

Founded in 1894 from Lahore, the bank has served eminent freedom fighters of India. It later got nationalised in July 1969. As one of the oldest banks in the country, it has a market cap of Rs. 37,411 crores as in 2019. PNB recently bagged the prestigious IBA Banking Technology Awards.

Total Assets – INR 6 lakh crores
Revenue – INR 80,512 crores
Total employees – 70,801

5. Bank of Baroda: Bank of Baroda has now become the third-largest lender of the country after it merged with Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank into a single entity. It carries a pride of 127 million customers across 21 countries and growing bigger and better day by day.

The bank operates from its main office in Vadodara and has 9,500 branches and 13,400 ATMs across India. Founded in July 1908, it has a market cap of more than 35,000 crores currently.

Total Assets – INR 11.5 trillion
Revenue – INR 91,000 crores
Total employees – 48,807

Top Banking Complaints in India

According to a recent survey by Times of India, every hour 11 people complain against their bank. The most commonly reported banking complaints in India by consumers include bad customer service, checks/funds bouncing, extra charges levied, debit/credit card blocked etc.

Almost 30% to 37% of bank complaints occur due to the bank's failure to fulfill commitments and lack of fair practices. Banks reporting fraud or complaints have been on the rise more than ever before. What's more disturbing is the account holders face never-ending issues even after being connected with the banks for a long time.

Around half a million people have reported filing complaints in the last five years. From high interests to willful delay in processing payments (leading to penalties), and lack of fair practices to denial of closing accounts, banking customers are having a tough time continuing with the financial hassle.

The numbers of banking complaints see a double-digit rise in the past few years. The financial period of 2018-19 witnessed a surge of 20% in the complaints against banks. Non-adherence to fair practices saw the most number of complaints followed by issues related to pension, levy of charges, and debit and credit card issues.

1. Hidden fees
Customers feel cheated about the excessive fees and hidden charges by the banks. Most often, customers are not aware how they can choose to stay out of overdraft protection. Unexpected charges by bank remains a major issues for consumers from Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai to Patna. Reaching out to their bank is always a good idea to have a clear picture of fees and extra charges.

2. Bad customer support
This is something which every customer is concerned about. Even if the customers manage to reach out to the customer service, they don't see any credible solution. It gets quite worse when the bank employees are unable to resolve your issue. Being heckled from person to person, and being asked to wait at every desk test the best of temper.

The only solution you have is to stay calm and wait for the response from the bank to get the issue resolved.

3.Beneficiary does not get the money
This is one of the most common issues faced by banking customers in all the major cities in India like Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, New Delhi and Kolkata. The amount gets deducted from their account, and it is shown that the transaction is successful, but it doesn’t get credited into the beneficiary’s account. EMI payers mainly lodged such complaints that the EMI would get deducted from their account but would not be credited to the beneficiary.

4. Fraudulent transaction
According to the Economic Times, there is a rise of 74% in banking frauds. Digital transactions via net banking and UPI are preferred over cash for a contactless mode of payment. But with an increase in online payments, there has been a rise in fraud cases.

Many customers complain that the money from their account has been deducted for things they have not purchased. Banks take a lot of time in addressing such complaints, and usually, customers get frustrated with the process.

5. Transaction failure
Transaction failures are very frustrating and embarrassing. When consumers are out, and they haven’t carried the cash, they will pay via net banking or UPI or ATM, but sometimes bank servers would go down suddenly, and the transaction would fail, or in some cases, the amount would get deducted, and the transaction would fail which can be misleading for both payer and recipient.

How to resolve Banking complaints?

1. First and foremost step should be contacting the bank’s customer care itself as they genuinely care about the customer satisfaction and would be willing to resolve the consumer complaints. Here are customer care number of some of top banks in India :

State bank of India (SBI) Customer Care - 1800 425 3800
Union Bank of India (UBI) Customer Care - 1800 22 2244
Allahabad Bank Customer Care - 1800 57 22 000
Bank of Baroda Customer Care - 1800 102 4455
UCO Bank Customer Care - 1800 274 0123
Bank of Maharashtra Customer Care - 18002334526
Bank of India (BOI) Customer Care - 1800 22 0229
Central Bank of India (CBI) Customer Care - 1800 22 1911
HDFC Bank Card Customer Care - 1800 266 4332
ICICI Bank Customer Care - 1800 200 3344
Punjab National Bank (PNB) Customer Care - 1800 180 2222
Axis Bank Customer Care - 1860 419 5555

2. Apart from calling customer care numbers, a customer can visit the bank and meet the officials or complain at the grievance cell to sort out the issue. However, you should try submitting your complaint to the bank in writing, to keep a record of your complaint. Also, some banks have an option of filing a complaint at their website also.

3. However if the bank is unwilling to address the issue then you can approach the Banking Ombudsman. A banking ombudsman is a senior official appointed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to resolve consumer complaints against deficiency in the banking services. So far there are a total number of 15 Bank Ombudsman whose number can be found on the official RBI website.

The consumer has to file a complaint at the ombudsman under whose jurisdiction the bank branch is located. All the consumer has to do is write it down on paper, or send a complaint via email. There are no charges for filing a complaint. However if you are not satisfied with the settlement offered by the ombudsman, you can file an appeal before the appellate authority within 30 days.

4. Send Legal Notice:
A Consumer can send legal notices to the Bank in case it is unable to resolve his complaint. It is one of the efficient ways to handle consumer complaints legally. Check below to know how to send a legal notice to a Bank?

Step 1: Firstly, get a legal notice drafted by a lawyer.
Step 2: Check it properly and make sure it is signed by a lawyer.
Step 3: Keep a copy of it for future purposes.
Step 4: Send the legal notice to the Bank by registered post.
Step 5: Keep the slip or delivery report for evidence.

5. File consumer forum case:
Consumer forum deals with consumer complaints and you should approach the consumer forum if you feel that your rights as a consumer have been violated.

If your Bank is not responding to your complaint even after sending legal notice by a lawyer then you should file a case against it in a consumer court.

Here is how you can file a case against the Bank in the consumer court?

Step 1: Intimate the aggrieved party via legal notice.
Step 2: Draft the consumer complaint
Step 3: Attach all the relevant documents and proofs to support your complaint.
Step 4: Select the appropriate court for filing the complaint.
Step 5: Pay the prescribed court fee that is required to be paid along with the complaint.
Step 6: Submit the case along with the affidavit & fees in the court.

There are strong chances of nothing being done against your complaint if you're not serious about it. So, if you are still left stranded with nowhere else to go then you can always file a consumer complaint at Voxya. We at Voxya, generally receive around thousands of Banking complaints in a month.

So how do we actually resolve these Banking complaints? We start a social media campaign and then send an email to the Banks to resolve the complaint amicably. Moreover if strict actions need to be taken then we draft a legal notice and send it to the concerned Bank.

Most Common Issue Reported for Banking Complaints

Fraudulent transaction

Beneficiary not credited

No Cashback

Bad customer support

Unauthorized Wallet transaction

Amount deducted but transaction failed

Fraud Transaction (APBLUTIL) ^Open

A fraud transaction of *****, is done using my credit card by AIRTEL MUMBAI IN (APBLUTIL). Date: **-Sep-** Amount: INR *****/-...

Sep 10, 2021 by Kuldeep Dwivedi

Stashfin has ruined my cibil (Stashfin Akara capital ) ^Open

I had taken loan from stashfin for the amount of *lakhs. I was paying my emi's religiously but due to covid situation I requested them for monotorium. And missed few emi and requested them to increase my tenure months or atleast give me sometim...

Sep 08, 2021 by Farid mirza hussain

Cheating of nine lakh fifty thousand (Aadarsh Credit Cooperative Society Ltd) ^Open

Myself Madhuben Kantilal Pathak resident of Morbi(Gujarat) had invested my hard savings life money in various fixed deposit schemes of Aadarsh Credit Cooperative Society Ltd ******(nine lakh) and from **** all the staff run away and I am not ab...

Sep 06, 2021 by Mulesh pathak

Wrong advice to sell stocks and charging for subscription even after telling to cancel it (ICICI Direct) ^Open

I had asked ICICI direct to cancel my subscription to premium portfolio. They told me to click on exit portfolio for that. Once I did that they realized it was a wrong advice. I had sold the stocks in portfolio as a result. They cancelled the s...

Sep 04, 2021 by Vijayakrishna Muniyangala Ramachandra

Fraud by SBI (Sbi Racpc 1 Visakhapatnam) ^Open

I purchased a car in an auction from SBI RACPC * VISAKHAPATNAM on April **, ****. It's been * months but there is no response from them regarding the TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP . I submitted the required documents for the TOKEN to be generated a mon...

Sep 04, 2021 by Balaji Vishnu Sai Vanapalli

Loan for Education (Indiabulls finance limited ) ^Open

I applied for, education loan and pay for *** / - rupees for processing. But they are demanding more money. I said that pay for later or dududed that the amount of loans . Before someone from the Indiabulls finance, said pay ***/- rupees for pr...

Sep 02, 2021 by Aurovil Prasad Sahoo

High interest on loan taken (Mpockket) ^Open

I had taken loan of **,***.Now due to high interest it became **,*** in *** days. They have been calling to my parents and friends without my permission. I just need them to remove extra interest of *,***.I am ready to pay the original amount. ...

Aug 31, 2021 by keerthidhar Reddy

Fixed deposit money not given after maturity (Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Ltd) ^Open

Sir /madam I am Gerald Andrews not given my maturity amount to me As I am orphan no home or not employed they are refusing to give me my FD money The branch manager is absconding Please intervene and may they give me my money. Please h...

Aug 28, 2021 by Gerald Andrews

Sahara company not refund my recurring maturity amount (Sahara Credit Co Operative Society Limited) ^Open

Sir mai **** mai ek agents ke dubra Sahara company mai recurring rd **** per manth khul bai the jiske maturity * year baad **** ko pure hone the jo ki puri ho gye hai ***** rupess diposit kra diye jab maturity hui to mai agent ko bola mere pais...

Aug 26, 2021 by sunil kumar

Maturity amount not received for GOLDEN 24 FD after maturity (Humara India credit cooperative society limited) ^Open

My mother has invested an amount of Rs. ****** /- . This Maturity amount of Rs. ****** on dt **/**/**** has not been given to me till date. I have been in regular contact with the branch office but still I did not get my claim. Since it has be...

Aug 25, 2021 by swagat patel

Account reactivation and service (Upstox) ^Open

Hi Team, my account was dormant in upstox and since last ** days I have been trying to reactivate it. I have raised the complaint on **-August-**** and on **-August-**** I have requested one more time, and today(**-August-****) requesting the s...

Aug 25, 2021 by Ganji Shiva Krishna

For loan close (Indiabulls Dhani Loan) ^Open

Sir,i have getting loan from Indiabulls dhani on June **** of loan amount Rs******.I have paid **EMI's on may **** but on may their collection department executive called me that your existing loan has total outstanding of Rs***** and this loan...

Aug 24, 2021 by Santosh kumar

Amount Not returning after maturity (Sahara credit cooperative society limited LUCKNOW) ^Open

Invested **** rupees per month till march **** for ** years that is total ****** plus interest so approx ****** rupees total amount, After maturity they are not returning the amount....

Aug 23, 2021 by Ajay Agrawal

No Service Provided After Paying 5000 Rs (Humsafar Matrimony Service varanasi) ^Open

Hi, my name is Arti. I posted an add for my brothers marriage, then I received a call from humsafar matrimony with ********** number. They send me a matching profile with photos, and asked for my brothers photo and biodata. After sending the de...

Aug 23, 2021 by Arti Jaraut

Unauthorized trades misappropriation in clients account (RKSV securities) ^Open

My account was debited by RKSV Securities via NACH mandate which was created for Mutual fund SIP without creating any SIP order. I also don't see any track of the amount debited. Raise many complaints but all complaints closed without any reaso...

Aug 17, 2021 by Praveen Kumar Yadav

Crypto currency fraud (BitcoinIndia org) ^Open

In November ****, I have added Rs *,**,***/- to my wallet in BitcoinIndia.org for purchase of crypto currency. I have purchased **** xrp(ripple coins) in november ****. Since then, I did no transactions. I wanted to sell my coins when the coin ...

Aug 17, 2021 by Soma Sekhar Potukuchi

Bank not foreclosing Loan even after payment (SBI Crads) ^Open

I have Deposited checque of Amount Rs. **,***/- in favour of my Loan accont to foreclouse it but bank didn't foreclose my loan even after payment done. its been * months no response from bank even after so many complains....

Aug 16, 2021 by Abhishek sharma

Financial Fraud (Adarsh Credit Co-operative Society ) ^Open

We Have Deposited in the Scheme of Fixed Deposit, Recurring Deposit & in Share Capital organization is running from past ** years and also issued License under Ministry of Agriculture, What Investor can see while depositing, Please help... I ne...

Aug 10, 2021 by Sanjay Balwani

Auto Square OFF my Order without my presence (Groww india) ^Open

Auto Square OFF my Order without my presence I Executed Intraday sell order on **-**-**** for around **** shares at price of *** INR average in Sona Blw Precision. without my knowledge they exit the order at *** INR and shows loss in my accoun...

Aug 10, 2021 by VIKRANTH

Denying to return my deposited amount (Humara India Credit Cooperative Society Limited Sahara Group ) ^Open

Complaint against: Humara India Credit Cooperative Society Limited, Regd office Address: Mangal Jyoti,*** ***/*, AJC Bose Road, Kolkata West Bangal ******, help@humaraindiaccsl.in, www.humaraindiaccsl.in. we have deposited or invested Rs. *,...

Aug 09, 2021 by Prakash Kumar