We explore how consumers in Canada can make a complaint about banking services (mortgages, loans, lines of credit, credit cards, joint accounts, etc. etc.) both to their own bank and to third party ombudsmans. Sorry, did you say "ombudsmans"? Yes, I did - we have competing dispute resolution services or "external complaints bodies" in Canada. Why? No reason. But we do our best to tell you how to navigate this Kafka-esque space, what to look for and how to react.
PIAC's articling student, Rene Kimmett, guests on this episode to explain how consumers can complain about banking services to their own financial institution and to third-party resolution services - yes, there are two "external complaints bodies" in Canada - OBSI and ADRBO. No need for that - which we get into. The Federal Department of Finance and the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) are presently implementing improvements to the internal complaints system inside banks, but we still have battling third party ECBs. Finance can fix this in a wink. We argue why they should and how consumers can advance their complaint, and hopefully get their money back, in this bizarre system. Advice to consumers: push, push, push!
This is the first of a series of four podcasts on financial matters. Future podcasts: investment complaints; payday and installment loans; cryptocurrencies for consumers (not!).