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

Paytm Fraud (PayTM) ^Open

Paytm keeps on board Fraudsters and claims KYC done. When a Paytm customer cheats another by Fraud , Paytm does not act. Paytm needs track its Customer on behalf of complaint by another customer. I got debited Rs **** through paytm by another p...

Jul 09, 2020 by Sudhir Gurtoo

Unauthorised amount charge (Bajaj Finance Company ) ^Open

As i have been using the state bank of india account, with the account num: ***********, Banbahal road North bazar andal. as my account has been debited with ****/- Rs on *st july *******to *th july ****/- Rs.when i asked the reason of the dedu...

Jul 09, 2020 by IMRAN ANSARI

NOT DEPOSITING THE AMOUNT (PASFAR TECHNOLOGIES PRIVA) ^Open

The amount of Rs ***** transferred through Net banking on *th July **** to *************-INB PASFAR Technologies Priva- ***********GAIXXFMB* was not deposited in the beneficiary account. Take necessary action to deposit the same in the benefi...

Jul 09, 2020 by patra saloman raju

Missing deposit (personal) ^Open

The amount of Rs ***** on *th July had transfer to *************-INB- PASFAR Technologies Priva- ***********GAIXXFMB* BUT NOT DEPOSITED IN Y POKERSTARS ACCOUNT. TAKE NECESSARY ACTION TO DEPOSIT THE AFORESAID AMOUNT as early as possible. . ...

Jul 09, 2020 by patra saloman raju

Bank service issue (Union Bank of India) ^Open

Mere account mei * july se **** initiate ho gye h ..but abhi tak mere account mei credit nia hua h... * days ho chuke h. I need it very urgently. Please kuch kariye....

Jul 09, 2020 by Kuldeep Chauhan

Unutherised transaction (Icici Bank Limited KARNAL ) ^Open

Icici bank deduduct money from my accohnt that imapact on my idfc first bank instollment thats decrease the my civil score . I deposit the amount **** before due date . but bank charged. ** rupees before installment thats why my cheque bounced...

Jul 08, 2020 by Sandeep

MATURED AMOUNT NOT SETTLED (Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Limited) ^Open

I am consumer of Sahara company since ****, I invested a monthly amount of Rs **** per month, this amount matured on **.**.**** but company refused my claim due to incapacity further company invested my maturity amount till Sept ****, now compa...

Jul 07, 2020 by MUKESH KUMAR

Fraud lost (Hdfc Bank) ^Open

Respected Sir, Request your kind attention on this escalated matter which I am bringing to your attention due to unsatisfactory revert received from your concerned department. It is with regards to multiple fraudulent transactions happe...

Jul 07, 2020 by Arwa Tinwala

Illegal activity by HDFC bank (HDFC banck) ^Open

I would like to bring to your notice that there are illegal ways being followed by the bank towards handling customer and their queries. I was forced to take a credit card by luring to certain benefits and by assuring that there will be no a...

Jul 07, 2020 by Sneha K Ravishankar

Salary deduction in June 2020 (State Bank of India ) ^Open

Having policy for granting Special Leave for Covid **,to all the employees above ** years of age, I applied for the leave and salary for Mar,Apr &May ** was given but for June **** salary deduction in full occurred by Mr Abhishek Dey Chief Mana...

Jul 07, 2020 by Sushanta Kumar Karfa

Paytm fraud Transaction (PayTM) ^Open

I had got a call from a fraudster , he told he is from paytm customer care and told me to upload money to wallet for keeping my wallet activated and for kyc purpose. I uploaded **** rs to my paytm wallet and instantly the amount got vanished fr...

Jul 07, 2020 by arunkumar K

Payment status is processing for last 9 days (Google Pay) ^Open

Dear Sir/Ma'am, I made a payment of Rs.*** for order at ferns and petals site using Google Pay app, money was deducted from my account and it was showing processing at Google pay. I was hopeful that maybe this will get resolved either I will r...

Jul 06, 2020 by VISHAKHA KUMARI

Money debited but nit credited to receiver account (Googlepay) ^Open

The transaction was made on **th June when it was showing "Processing" however it showed "Paid" on *th July but the receipent has still not received the payment. Contacted customer care google pay but have not received any help or money back. ...

Jul 06, 2020 by Meghna Mittal

Hdfc annual fee charges (Hdfc) ^Open

Hi.. Hdfc bank is charging me new debit card annual charges (Rs.***/-) since ****. And I haven’t received any new chip based debit card yet. In **** I called them once and got my money back ***/- but then I could see many such charges for no ...

Jul 06, 2020 by Swati Shetty

Cashback Not Received (HDFC Payzapp Wallet) ^Open

Pazapp provide an offer of **% cashback upto rs. **on min. transaction of rs.*** if payment is made thru scan and pay mode. I initiated a tata sky transaction (ref no. ********) for which I have never received this cashback till date and when...

Jul 06, 2020 by Nitin Kumar Jain

Loan repaying not possible in lockdown (Mpockket) ^Open

I have taken loans from mpokket and paid every loan on time. But now, during this time of lockdown, when the economy is stagnant and there are no transactions made. I cannot repay my loan on time and they are charging heavy late penalties for n...

Jul 06, 2020 by Sanchit Kumar

Order cancelled but emi deducted (Citibank india) ^Open

I had ordered mobile from amazon through my credit card but since I cancelled the order the money was refunded back to my account but still the emi has been shown in my account reducted .The citi bank customer drafted a mail saying that merchan...

Jul 06, 2020 by Sanchita shetty

HDFC bank personal loan department not responding for queries (HDFC banck) ^Open

I have done my personal loan EMI moratorium from June to Aug-**** and i got approval. June month EMI has deducted and they didn't refund. I have raised many queries/complaint through online and called through customer care no. they totally ...

Jul 06, 2020 by vivek mistry

MONEY DEDUCTED WITHOUT MY KNOWLeDGE (PayTM) ^Open

Im using paytm app, as i have loaded rs.**** for expense purchase they have debited my amount withoutr my knowledge. they have debited around ***** amount in my paytm account. please find this issue and refund my amount as soon as possible. ...

Jul 06, 2020 by sangeetha g b

Cash disputed issue (Bajaj Finanance Ltd) ^Open

I do have an account with karnataka bank ltd ac no.**************** form **** onwards the name of krishna .n which is opend for making emi payments to bajaj finance ltd now issue is bajaj has given many ecs mandate with out intimation to the c...

Jul 06, 2020 by krishna narnavaram