How it works: a modern customer complaints system

The advantages of this modern customer complaints system are obvious:

• it is free of charge to bank customers;
• it is without any risk for them. If customers are unwilling to accept the Ombudsman's decision, they are still free to take their complaint to a court of law.

If, however, their complaint to the Ombudsman is successful, they obtain satisfaction quickly and easily. The customer's legal interests cannot be prejudiced by expiry of the statutory limitation period during the Ombudsman proceedings. The banks have undertaken to accept decisions by the Ombudsman in disputes involving amounts up to €5,000. Experience has shown that banks usually even accept non-binding Ombudsman decisions against them involving amounts exceeding €5,000.

If a consumer complains that a bank has refused to open a current account for him – even on a credit-only basis – or to continue operating one, the Ombudsman checks whether the bank has complied with the “Current Account for Everyone” recommendation made by the central associations of the German banking industry (ZKA).

Every year, the Association of German Banks publishes an Ombudsman's report. Statistics supply information about the complaints received over the previous year and the subject of those complaints. Selected anonymised decisions provide an insight into the broad scope of the scheme and reflect some of the major issues covered.