Illustrative stock photo (source: Sme)
As many as 2,564 people filed 431 official complaints to the office last year. Eighty-five cases were resolved in favour of the bank clients.
“Solutions often don’t consist of just favourable outcomes of the submissions, but we managed to help many people out by giving them advice,” said banking ombudswoman Eva Černá, as quoted by the TASR newswire.
The business sector accounted for only 1 percent of all complaints to the banking ombudswoman’s office which was established by the Slovak Banking Association.
“We’ve always been here for ordinary people,” Černá said, as quoted by TASR. “We’re a free service, particularly for people who can't afford lawyers.”
Consumers most frequently complain about difficulties with their loans, most notably over efforts aimed at early redemption of their mortgages following recent falls in interest rates. Assistance from the ombudsman’s office is also sought by people who are experiencing difficulties in repaying their loan instalments or having their debts restructured, TASR wrote.
