Complaints from financial customers at the Bank of Spain are breaking historical records, largely due to the “summons effect” that follows judicial decisions. Between January and June, his window received 38,619 complaints; this exceeds the 34,146 files processed throughout 2023 and was close to the maximum number recorded in 2017; At the time, strong cases were supported regarding the mortgage provisions.
Sources stated that with current figures, this ceiling has already been exceeded and it is predicted that this year “it may reach 50,000-60,000, taking into account that we have already exceeded the historical maximum in 2017, when we reached 40,176.” Organization during the presentation of the Damage Report for 2023.
Worst of all, most of the complaints stem from the Bank of Spain’s inability to issue a ruling that oversteps its powers. At the bank, they explained that all claims are “thoroughly reviewed” but that this will affect around 60% of disputes that reach the claims department, mostly in connection with mortgage charges and card payment fraud and transfers. Other reasons justifying inadmissibility are lack of information, not having gone through the bank’s claims service before, or these are matters that are the responsibility of other authorities such as CNMV or Insurance.
“It is highly probable that behind this unacceptable and unusual increase, there are expectations regarding the invalidity of contractual provisions, triggered by successive decisions regarding the costs of formalizing housing loans that have emerged in recent months. A situation that is a good example of the problem regarding the competence of the Bank of Spain that we have just mentioned in the report ” was stated.
The situation worsened further after the Supreme Court considered the provisions regarding the expenses charged to the consumer with these loans as abuse and the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) regarding the limitation period for claims. .
The Bank of Spain admits that “large numbers of citizens” went to its window after consumer associations and specialist law firms encouraged consumers to request a refund from their banks, sometimes after their organizations rejected your request. But it cannot decide whether a provision is abusive or should be struck down, which are the underlying reasons for many of these complaints.
The organization, which tries to avoid this situation and explains the situation transparently, admits: “It is not very annoying that those who claim compensation come to the Bank of Spain to seek satisfaction on an issue for which we have no capacity.” The website and the portal for the Financial Customer also explain to consumer associations their scope of authority to avoid confusion.
The same goes for fraud in payments made by cards or transfers; because its competence is limited to verifying the correct verification of the transaction by double checking, only to escape when a fraud occurs behind the transaction.
Mortgages, cards and accounts
However, Alberto Ríos, General Manager of Financial Administration and Banknotes of the Bank of Spain, evaluated the trends in the files received by the institution positively. In 2023, it received 33,191 complaints; This number was in line with 34,146 files in 2022 and 34,330 in 2021, and the bank had to refund approximately 4.38 million euros to customers for the agency’s decisions – less than 6.03 million before. but higher than the amounts encountered in previous years.
The bank corrected 79.8% of cases compared to 83.7% in the previous year; The issues analyzed and accepted included raids and withdrawal of organizations at 42.05%. Of the reports issued, 38.98% supported the customer’s request, while 52.54% agreed with the financial institution. By type, 87.3% of cases resulted from complaints related to mortgages, cards, checking accounts, transfers and personal loans. Mortgages remain the main source of disputes, accounting for 74.8% of claims.
“My impression is that there are issues that have come to us before and are largely being resolved by the customer care services of the financial institutions (SACs). There are entities that we know are taking responsibility, as a matter of policy. These amounts are being refunded to the SACs and there is also fraud being committed,” he said. noted. This will lie behind the decrease in raids experienced by institutions that can prevent this situation by resolving the dispute within their own units.
The organizations resolved 332,043 complaints in these departments by agreeing with the customer, and 458,349 complaints by reiterating the consumer’s contrary attitude.
