WHEN THE MEDIA CALLS
Get the press involved with customers’ issues and banks respond with lightning speed,
Do you have a consumer problem with one of Canada’s big banks?
Every bank has a step-by-step complaint handling process, which eventually leads to the ombudsman’s office.
If you want to appeal to a higher level, you can go to OBSI (the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments) for an independent review. You can find contact information for the banks’ complaint handlers at OBSI’s website. RBC and TD no longer use OBSI for banking complaints.
Their customers can go to ADRBO (which stands for ADR Chambers Banking Ombuds Office) for a review.
Contacting the media is another option. In my experience, the big banks respond with lightning speed and try to find a satisfactory settlement.
For an illustration, here are a few customer complaints I helped resolve with BMO Bank of Montreal. BMO Rewards: Phillip Roh booked a hotel, which gave a special rate if he booked with his BMO credit card and paid with points. The rewards website said there were no cancellation fees, but he had to pay a $25 fee when his plans changed.
“I was told that BMO’s third-party hotel booking providers (Hotels.com and Expedia) don’t charge cancellation fees, but the fee is to cover BMO’s staff time to make reservation changes manually on the customer’s behalf,” he says. “This seems like a cash grab.”
Roh asked BMO customer service to honour the “no cancellation fee” reference at the website, which conflicted with the $25 cancellation fee listed in BMO’s cardholder agreement. No luck.
In a last-ditch effort, he wrote to me and to the credit card department. The result was a $25 refund and two calls from an executive, who said BMO would work to eliminate the confusion at the rewards website.
Credit score problem: David Baeta tried to close one of his BMO MasterCard accounts last December. When he was charged an annual fee for the card, he was told it was an administrative error.
Three months later, he found the account was still active while trying to refinance his mortgage. His credit report showed an R3 status (which means that bills were paid 60 to 90 days after the due date or three payments were past due).
The R3 lowered his credit score and held up his mortgage deal. He asked BMO to work with the credit bureau to adjust its records.
“A letter was issued, but did not speak to the fact this was an error made by BMO. A second letter was issued, again with missing and inaccurate language. As a young father with two kids, trying to renovate our home, I don’t have time to fight with the bank to correct its mistakes,” he said.
Baeta had waited 11 days for help when he wrote to me. Within two days, he had the right results.
“The issue has been solved,” he said. “Credit score rectified manually, so everything is back to normal. Huge relief.”
Mortgage processing fee: Danail Danailov signed a purchase agreement for a vacation property in Florida and went to BMO Harris Bank, based in Chicago, for a mortgage.
Dealing with a U.S. subsidiary of a Canadian bank would make the U.S. mortgage approval process more tolerable, he assumed. So, he called and got written prequalification for a mortgage with a 30-per-cent down payment after verbally disclosing his assets, liabilities, income and investments.
BMO Harris Bank asked for a $495 (U.S.) processing fee. Almost a month later, it said he could get a mortgage only if he made a down payment closer to 50 per cent.
“They cited my debt-to-income ratios, the same ratios I passed at the pre-qualification stage. There were absolutely no changes to anything I had disclosed,” Danailov said. “When I rejected their counter offer, the bank refused to issue a refund for the $495 processing fee.”
After I contacted the Toronto head office, he got his money back. Now looking for another Florida home, he says the bank’s one-month delay deprived him of other financing and left him with a lost opportunity cost. BMO spokesman Ralph Marranca declined to comment on individual cases. “We do make every effort to resolve customers’ concerns fairly and learn from their experience and feedback,” he said. Ellen Roseman writes about personal finance and consumer issues. You can reach her at eroseman@thestar.ca or ellenroseman.com