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Systemic
Issues
| BFSO has continued to focus
on systemic issues during the year in review. Significant emphasis
has been placed on identifying problems that have affected or
have the potential to affect a large number of consumers in
addition to those who have complained to BFSO. |
A total of 18 systemic problems
were identified and investigated during the year and all were rectified
to the Ombudsman’s satisfaction by the year’s end.
The following are examples of some
systemic problems BFSO has considered over the past year.
Case Studies
Overdrawn
account fees charged to high reliability customers
At one member bank, customers who
were considered to be of high reliability status had an indicator
placed on their accounts allowing them to draw on uncleared funds.
As a result, when a cheque was deposited to the account, the ATM
receipt showed that the funds were available and could be drawn
on.
If the funds were withdrawn, however, and the account became overdrawn,
an overdrawn account fee of $25 was charged.
The member advised that this was
a systems error and it had not been intended for the overdrawn account
fee to be charged in these circumstances. The bank agreed to change
its systems so that the fee was not charged.
Misleading credit card statements
One dispute indicated that the format
of a member bank’s credit card statement was causing confusion amongst
its customers. The section of the statement that advised of the
‘minimum payment due’ did not include any arrears owed to the member
bank. Information regarding the arrears was included elsewhere on
the credit card statement.
We formed the view that the format
of these statements could cause customers to be confused about the
amount that was required to be paid.
The matter was rectified by the
member agreeing to change the format of its credit card statements
and to reimburse any customers who claimed that they had been misled
by the format of the statements.
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