Gripes mount for bossy banks
The bank ombudsman received more than 1,000 written complaints from consumers this year, most of which related to loans and credit card charges, while collection agencies were also often accused of pushing too hard with overdue bank customers, he told Kathimerini yesterday. The Hellenic Ombudsman for Banking Investment Services (MTEY), Antonis Foskolos, said that he received 1,224 written messages from the start of the year until the end of November, of which 82 percent related to loans and credit cards. The remaining 18 percent were in regard to deposits and other transactions, he added. One of the most common grievances from bank customers related to being harassed by debt-collection companies working on behalf of banks. «These companies are the cancer of banks. We have taken lots of complaints about the excessive zeal and lack of communication shown by the employees that work for these companies,» he said. The MTEY is a non-profit organization that was set up after the merger of the banking ombudsman and the investment ombudsman. It does not have the power to impose fines on banks that break the rules but can intervene and require them to stick to court rulings, Foskolos added.
