P567ORACLE 567 Mon30 Dec C4 1733:26
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A man to bank on
Britain's first Banking Ombudsman
starts work on January 1st. His help
could be invaluable to the 33 million
bank customers in this country, says
Sue Gorska.
Two years ago, in December 1983, a
report from the National Consumer
Council first recognised the need for a
Banking Ombudsman. The NCC argued that
the banks were not taking their custom-
ers seriously enough when it came to
investigating complaints. The banks
were reluctant to admit, for example,
that problems with cash dispensers
could be the machine's fault.
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P567ORACLE 567 Mon30 Dec C4 1741:31
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A man to bank on
Nearly a quarter of the people the
National Consumer Council questigned
for a report on banking services back
in 1983 thought there was a need for an
impartial judge of banking disputes.
Ian Edwards-Jones, the new Banking
Ombudsman will fill this gap. As an ex-
barrister and Q.C., Mr Edwards Jones
has had experience of acting both fgr
and against banks. Most recently he has
been a Social Service Commissioner,
arbitrating on social security cases.
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P567ORACLE 567 Mon30 Dec C4 9741:47
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A man to bank on
Nineteen banks have so far agreed to
finance the Banking Ombudsman scheme
and to be bound by his decision. The
ombudsman will look at complaints about
banks from the public and will be able
to award compensation of up to £50,000.
The ombudsman's independence will be
vital to the success of the scheme and
will be protected by an Ombudsman Coun-
cil, acting as a buffer between the
banks and the ombudsman. The 8 memberu
of the Council will include ITN's Sir
Alastair Burnet and, as Chairman, Dame
Mary Donaldson, ex-Lord Mayor of London
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P567ORACLE 567 Mon30 Dec C4 1742:22
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A man to bank on
The Banking Ombudsman is to be one of
only two ombudsmen in the private
sector. There already is a successful
Insurance Ombudsman Bureau, started up
five years ago and the Banking Ombuds-
man's Council looks set to be run on
the same lines. If so, the Ombudsman
may sum up the problems he has come
across in his Annual Report.
Complaining to the ombudsman will be
free for customers, and although the
member banks will be bound by his find-
ing, customers can still take legal
action if they don't like the decision.
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P567ORACLE 567 Mon30 Dec C4 9742:17
5/6
A man to bank on
The Banking Ombudsman can only accept
complaints about personal banking prob-
lems and only when they've already been
considered by a senior executive of the
bank concerned.
There's no point complaining to the
Ombudsman about something that happened
before the beginning of 1986 ─ he'll
only consider problems arising from
January 1st onwards. And don't expect
him to change the bank's mind about
giving you an overdraft. The banks have
already reserved the right to refuse a
loan on 'commercial' grounds.
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P567ORACLE 567 Mon30 Dec C4 9740:44
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A man to bank on
So what can you do if, in the New Year,
you do have a dispute with youq bank?
First discuss the matter with the bank
manager. If that gets you nowhere, you
could then complain to the Banking
Ombudsman. You should be able to find a
leaflet about the service in most banks
The Banking Ombudsman's address is to
be announced just before the New Year
when the office will open to deal with
problems which come up from January 1st
onwards.
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