The Banking Ombudsman says its workload was up nearly 10% over the second half of last year.
And complaints about housing finance, particularly mortgagee sales and early repayment costs, made up nearly half of the complaints.
Ombudsman Deborah Battell said: “Customers were concerned about their banking service provider’s decision-making including complaints about irresponsible lending and refusing to lend. Customer concerns also related to service, mainly when the customer felt he or she received insensitive treatment from their bank at a time of stress.”
She said while while KPMG’s 2012 report on banking showed mortgagee sales reducing, the number of mortgagee sale disputes received by her office was higher than usual. “We are often contacted after a mortgagee sale has taken place.”
About 25% of disputes for the first half of the financial year related to bank accounts – specifically service issues and bank decision-making about accounts. Remaining disputes were about a range of issues, including credit cards, loan protection insurance and transactional errors.
