The Ombudsman for Banking Services (OBS) will be able to help more South Africans who have complaints about their banks following an announcement this week that three of its terms of reference have been updated.
Previously, the OBS could only assist individual bank customers if the value of their claim was R500 000 or less. This amount has been increased to R800 000.
The second revision concerns small businesses. Previously, the OBS could only help businesses whose annual turnover did not exceed R3 million. This figure has now been increased to R5 million.
In addition, the ombudsman can now accept complaints involving matters that occurred within the past three years. Previously, the matter had to have arisen over the past two years.
Advocate Neville Melville, the ombudsman, says the changes will enable his office to support more people free of charge. Consumers whose complaints fall outside the jurisdiction of the OBS have to seek legal advice and pursue costly court action.
The OBS used to be known as the Banking Adjudicator. However, the name was changed recently after research indicated that more people were aware of the term "ombudsman".
u You can contact the OBS on sharecall 0860 800 900, or email info@obssa.co.za, or telephone (011) 838 0035, or fax (011) 838 0043. The postal address is PO Box 5728, Johannesburg, 2000.