Credit card woes top list of Pinoys' complaints to Bangko Sentral

Of the 11,664 complaints the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas received from consumers since 2006, 30 percent or 3,487 were about credit cards, a BSP official said Wednesday.   BSP managing director for central supervisory support Johnny Noe Ravalo said the credit card complaints were mostly about unfair collection practices, excessive charges, and requests for debt restructuring.   Ravalo also said there seems to be a growing awareness about the BSP as evidenced by the 20-fold increase in the number of complaints from only 158 in 2006, when the BSP set-up its Financial and Consumer Affairs Group (FCAG).   “The number of complaints that have been processed and resolved has been increasing during the last six years, indicating that more financial consumers are depending on the BSP to help them seek redress from financial institutions,” Ravalo said.   “Satisfactorily resolved” were 11,611 cases or 99.5 percent of the complaints brought to the BSP’s attention, according to Ravalo.   A close second were grumblings about bank deposits and these numbered 3,300 or 28 percent of all the complaints the BSP handled over the past six years.   The BSP also got consumer grievances about lending transactions, electronic banking, pawnshops, foreign exchange transactions and investments.  

• Lending transactions (4%);
• Electronic banking (6%);
• Pawnshops (4%);
• Foreign exchange (2%); and
• Investments (1%)

  Aside from addressing complaints, the FCAG group also implements the financial education programs of the BSP. — ELR, GMA News