BSP logs 40K complaints relating to financial consumer protection; only 5% come from Mindanao

SINCE the effectivity of the Financial Consumer Protection Act (Republic Act 11765) in June 2022, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has logged more than 40,000 complaints from customers of different BSP-supervised financial institutions from all over the Philippines. Of this number, only around 5 percent come from Mindanao, implying the Mindanaoans' unawareness of the law.

Thus the BSP held the first-ever Media Information Session about the law on March 21, 2024, at the BSP-Mindanao Regional Office in Quirino Avenue, Davao City.

Rochelle D. Tomas, BSP Consumer Protection and Market Conduct Office acting director, revealed that most of the complaints they receive are unauthorized transactions, fraud, interest rates, fees and charges, and ineffective consumer assistance channels. 

"We also have implicated concern -- account management. These are concerns about their transactions like not providing SOA (statement of account), biglang dinormant ang account (account was made dormant by financial institutions without prior notice), nag-close ang account on the basis of being accused as a scammer, and cannot open an account," Tomas said.

Tomas said that account management issues are those concerns that need explanations by financial services providers about what happened to the customer's account. These issues affect the disclosure and transparency provided under the law.

Tomas added that the BSP-Consumer Assistance Mechanism (BSP-CAM) caters to all issues being raised by any consumers, whether involving huge amounts of money, will be catered to as they do not discriminate against issues or customers.

As of last year, there were a total of 43,113 complaints BSP received relating to the Financial Consumer Protection Act.

Consumers who have concerns can raise their complaints either through their website to be catered to by BOB, a chatbot, or through email at bspmail@bsp.gov.ph. They can also contact them through their regional offices and branches. CEA