Is There Any Ombudsman in Financial Sector? (Our Financial Institution Holds Our Money for No Reason)

weee on 24/03/2025 - 10:02
Last edited 24/03/2025 - 12:06 by 1 other user

we have mortgage with them, a couple of weeks ago, we found out that we couldn't transfer money out of offset account online or using their app(it worked fine before), we had to call them first to process, we were given no specific reasons other than it's a 'glitch in the system' due to interest rate change, it's been like that for more than a month now, we couldn't possibly transfer money out during the weekends or out of their working hours, it's becoming increasingly frustrating, today we called again and given exactly the same answer, 'a glitch', we are not buying it as it's completely bogus, we wonder is there any place we can lodge a complain?

TLDR
the company locks up our fund during the weekends and non-working hours

Financial

Comments

  • djkelly69 on 24/03/2025 - 10:03
    +31

    Try putting your question in to Google - the first result gives you the answer.

    • Ocker on 24/03/2025 - 10:28
      +3

      Much easier for lazy people to expect other OZB'ers to do the legwork for them.

      • AndyC1 on 24/03/2025 - 21:33

        Bargain as it costs zero for zero result. Win win.

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 24/03/2025 - 10:05
    +8

    Is it not AFCA? Not sure how much help it will be looking at feedback online

    • geekcohen on 24/03/2025 - 10:25
      +2

      ACFA were useless when I lodged a complaint about my Car Insurance Claim and Repair debarcle.

      • Jimothy Wongingtons on 24/03/2025 - 10:29
        +1

        if the comments on productreview forum are to be believed, im not surprised i guess..

      • MS Paint on 24/03/2025 - 10:41
        +2

        Bloody kangaroos

        • geekcohen on 24/03/2025 - 10:45
          +1

          Yep and then combine that with the muppets at RACV and their preferred repairer……..

      • sangohan on 24/03/2025 - 15:03
        +1

        The vast majority of those bad reviews and issues i hear with AFCA are these insurance issues. Essentially, people simply just complain when insurance dont pay out.

      • us3rnam3tak3n on 25/03/2025 - 18:29

        I had a great experience. AFCA forced the financial institution to turn over their paperwork to me. I was able to poke holes in their practices and they caved rather than continue disputing with me. Saved me around 90k.

        • arcticmonkey on 26/03/2025 - 06:47

          I've had great experiences with AFCA too.

          They hold the scum bag banks to account after their money grabbing and offshored incompetents fail.

  • Fredfloresjr on 24/03/2025 - 10:10
    +32

    You are at the right place lodging your complain. Sit tight and few people will be with you shortly.

    • geekcohen on 24/03/2025 - 10:47
      +8

      my bad, I should have mentioned that I'm aware of there's AFCA, my intention is calling for more ideas or info regarding this case

      Well including it at the start often helps. Other than ACFA, you are probably SOL and even contacting them will be useless.

      I would escalate it further through your bank or go into a branch….. assuming your bank still has those.

      no need to be sarcastic it doesn't help

      Welcome to OzBargain.

      • McFly on 25/03/2025 - 15:21
        +1

        Welcome to OzBargain.

        Are you being sarcastic?

    • Jimothy Wongingtons on 24/03/2025 - 11:45
      +5

      Who was sarcastic?

    • djones145 on 24/03/2025 - 14:11
      +7

      news.com.au
      7 news
      batman
      donald trump
      albo
      international war crimes court

      complete in order

    • Never Pay RRP on 25/03/2025 - 09:56
      +2

      So you’re asking if there’s another ombudsman other than the official NSW government ombudsman, whom you are already aware of?🙄

      • djones145 on 25/03/2025 - 11:35
        +1

        batman
        batman has no boundaries

    • paloverde88 on 25/03/2025 - 22:56

      Oh another case of putting Dracula in charge of the blood bank then found out later when the fangs showed. This had happened so many times all they need to do is splash holy water before they put them in charge of blood banks then Cyndi Laupo true colours always shows then we don’t have to do Spanish Inquisition

    • 7ekn00 on 24/03/2025 - 11:44
      +5

      Without the institutions name, you will get very little response (nobody will know which company you are talking about) …

      So even if there are people here with similar issues with the same company, you will never know :/

      My 2c, load their app on a clean OS (whatever you use, yet again, another guess) and see if error is corrected …

        • just-human on 24/03/2025 - 14:40
          +7

          Saying a name would most definitely help.

          If its a financial institution, they are most likely to be registered under AFCA. You can lodge a complaint and go through their steps, if you are unhappy you can escalate to AFCA. Other than that I'm not sure what to say without knowing what the company is.

          As usual, none of this is financial or legal advice.

    • Downvoter on 24/03/2025 - 12:11

      You get what you pay for, which sounds like fvck all.

    • tenpercent on 24/03/2025 - 15:12
      +1

      Why futile? AFCA helped me for a similar issue and was able to resolve it.

    • AndyC1 on 24/03/2025 - 21:35
      +3

      What's "they are under the umbrella of an Australian" mean?

    • arcticmonkey on 26/03/2025 - 06:49

      Why are you too scared to name the bank?

  • Baysew on 24/03/2025 - 12:10

    we couldn't possibly transfer money out during the weekends or out of their working hours,

    For a non-bank lender, this doesn't seem unreasonable. The money won't arrive until normal business hours anyway. Sometimes there may be a trade off with interest rates versus out of hours service.

    • weee on 24/03/2025 - 12:23
      -2

      it was working perfectly fine until a month or so ago, before you could transfer any amount under the limit in or out in almost real time at any given time during the day, weekends or public holidays, the part we are not happy with is the fund is basically locked up by them outside of their trading hours with no valid reason given other than some blunt excuses, it's just dishonest shenanigans, most likely they are holding onto their customer funds on purpose.

      • freefall101 on 24/03/2025 - 12:50
        +1

        How do you know they're being dishonest? Sounds like it's legitimately a glitch if they used to offer it and it stopped working.

        When there is a major system issue, like offset withdrawals not working, you don't just have someone go in from IT and rewrite a bit of code and hit ok. It takes time to diagnose the problem, develop a solution, test a solution and deploy it in a way that it doesn't happen again.

        • weee on 24/03/2025 - 13:16
          -3

          well it's been weeks for such a common transaction and on the sixth call to them, they still shoved us off by saying exact the same thing, 'a glitch' without even bothering elaborating a bit more to reassure their customers, I personally find it's pretty shady.

          • freefall101 on 24/03/2025 - 13:23
            +1

            @weee: Call centre people won't have a clue what's wrong, and they don't get told because they probably don't know enough about it to try relay it to customers.

            They should put out a press release or something explaining the issue though, that's normal practice. That they haven't is pretty shitty.

            • weee on 24/03/2025 - 13:29
              -3

              @freefall101: no announcement whatsoever on their website nor do we receive any email or letter explaining this, it's like non-existent to them, all they can offer is 'unlock' your fund upon calling, otherwise, it's just a middle finger right onto your face when you want to move your funds

              • freefall101 on 24/03/2025 - 16:23
                -1

                @weee: Yeah, that's pretty weak then.

                Unfortunately the process is to raise a formal complaint with the lender, then with AFCA (doesn't matter if they're a bank, although if they're owned by a bank they're probably still classed as a bank by AFCA).

          • Webber000 on 24/03/2025 - 19:45

            @weee: HSBC took more than 3 months to fix an issue with their system a few years ago that affected all of their debit card customers so it very well could be a glitch and they haven't even worked out whats causing it yet.

      • dtc on 24/03/2025 - 13:38
        +3

        there is no reason for a bank to 'hold onto customer funds' (unless there is a run on the bank and we would have heard about that). And I'm pretty sure that whatever amount you personally have in the bank isnt worth the effort to the bank

        so you call the call centre and the person at the other end doesnt have specific details of what is causing the issue and…what do you expect? Ask them to find out and call you back. Write to the internal disputes area in the bank (they all must have them if they are an ADI).

        why dont you just say which institution it is and then you might find there are people who are able to provide specific assistance.

        • weee on 24/03/2025 - 13:53
          -4

          as I mentioned it's not a bank per se, but as a sizeable lender they do have a lot of customers, and during the call, they mentioned other customers are having the same problem and it's within their system, while our fund is trivial to them but if most of their customers (if not all) are having it, I do believe it's in the lender's favour to 'hold' the money as much as they can for f knows what reason, as for which lender, I leave it for now, I'm requesting a call from them see if they can answer a bit more if they ever get back to me

          • just-human on 25/03/2025 - 08:43

            @weee: Does the "lender" offer deposits? If so they must have an ADI and therefore you can file a complaint and if you are not happy, go to AFCA.

            If they do not offer deposits, how are you depositing money somewhere that is not authorised to take deposits? I feel like this thread has been overcomplicated. Australia has one of the strongest consumer finance regulations in the world and there is a reason why all ADIs are registered under AFCA - to prevent this exact type of issue from occurring. Unless you can give us a name, I can't see any reason why you would go to anyone other than AFCA.

            As usual, none of this is financial or legal advice.

        • tenpercent on 24/03/2025 - 15:15

          unless there is a run on the bank and we would have heard about that

          I don't think so. I would expect there would be a media blackout on it and as few people as possible would be informed while the "authorities" work to stabilise the issue.

          • gavt on 25/03/2025 - 20:20

            @tenpercent: These days most retail deposit runs will be caused by digital/social media…

  • Hardlyworkin on 24/03/2025 - 12:54
    +4

    Take your business elsewhere.

    • weee on 24/03/2025 - 13:19
      -3

      yeah probably eventually, but my question still stands and so far no one seems to give a concrete answer.

      • Baysew on 24/03/2025 - 13:25
        +3

        I'm aware of there's AFCA

        it seems to be futile to escalate this within them hence the search for a third party

        Only other concrete answer for a third party is Bikies.

        • weee on 24/03/2025 - 13:27
          -2

          damn what took you so long lol

      • RTX9090Ti on 25/03/2025 - 07:25

        was your offset balance significantly increased due to maybe a crypto profit? or source of income offshore?

  • tenpercent on 24/03/2025 - 15:03
    +4

    Is There Any Ombudsman in Financial Sector?

    Yes

  • katykat on 24/03/2025 - 16:28

    AFCA is the ombudsman for financial services in Australia. That is the appropriate body to review your complaint.

  • MS Paint on 24/03/2025 - 21:42
    +4

    Sounds like this is your best option

  • Poor Ass on 24/03/2025 - 23:13

    Ponzi activated

  • joshash on 25/03/2025 - 08:01

    AFCA have no powers to order companies to do anything.
    They are a toothless tiger

  • blindwilly on 25/03/2025 - 08:32

    Every financial institution is required by law to have an Internal Disputes Resolution (IDR) process which you can use to raise a complaint.
    AFCA is an External Disputes Resolution (EDR) service and will check if you have gone through the IDR process first. If the issue is significant and IDR has failed it may then go to EDR, but this may be regarded as too inconsequential for AFCA to look at.
    You could call the bank and ask what the process is to move your mortgage to a competitor noting the poor quality of the app and poor customer service is the reason. If they give a crap I suspect things might get fixed, if not then you have a legit reason to look elsewhere.
    Assuming you have no red flags with your mortgage/work I found other lenders were delighted to help me switch providers and when I waved that in front of my current lender a few years back they matched my interest rates to the lower offer from another lender.

  • Dougaldog on 25/03/2025 - 09:23

    You’re not a Russian oligarch by any chance? I hear they have difficulty getting some of their money as well

    • McFly on 25/03/2025 - 15:27

      Canadian farmer?

  • bp2000 on 25/03/2025 - 11:08

    Should just ask them. If they do fall under an ombudsman they generally have to read a script about how to lodge a complaint. I find that when you ask them it a) annoys them b) all of a sudden they become a lot more helpful. Because they don't like having open cases with the ombudsman if it is something they can spend 5 mins or $5 to sort out.

    Not sure your case will be that easy for them to sort out.

  • gromit on 25/03/2025 - 11:20
    +1

    they are not holding it for no reason, they are saying they have an issue with the current system. As such you can demand an expected resolution date and/or escalate it with them to get better information about what they are doing to resolve or compensate you for the inconvenience. If that yields nothing then move banks.

    Note: glitches in financial systems sometimes take weeks or even months to resolve even if the fix is relatively simple as depending on where the glitch is they may require extensive testing or certification of the changes before making the change to production.

  • Lakon on 25/03/2025 - 11:51

    shop around and change your mortgage to a more reputable bank..

  • CalmLemons on 25/03/2025 - 13:39

    So I'm not too sure, but the OP is complaining about not being able to transfer money out of business hours?

    This is normal with some banks, it's not a glitch.

    A lot of the times, people can 'fk up' the transfer, be it the wrong amount or wrong account. You're not going to be able to undo this at 3am at night as it would be unreasonable to have the bank employ someone at those hours to fix your mistake.

    Especially for business accounts or accounts subject to potential fraud or unauthorised transactions.

  • McFly on 25/03/2025 - 15:28

    Name them. It will help. What are you scared of?

  • knasty on 25/03/2025 - 16:27

    I've seen some negative comments re AFCA here but my last two AFCA complaints have been resolved within 3 business days. That exceeded my expectations.

    • radicalvin on 25/03/2025 - 17:14

      I agree, never had to use them before until recently. I had some negative reports which affected my credit score coming from a closed 28Deg mastercard. I contacted both Experian and 28deg and they wouldn't budge, and they suggested AFCA which I did. All sorted within 2 weeks.

  • serpserpserp on 26/03/2025 - 08:15
    +1

    Who is the company OP?

  • foursaken on 26/03/2025 - 09:47

    What's with the influx of deadshits that can't google?

  • weee on 26/03/2025 - 17:42
    -1

    sorry was busy, its Liberty finance, really not impressed, I tried to get them to call back, they never did, guess they just don't give a fly…

    • just-human on 10/04/2025 - 16:55
      +1

      They don’t seem to offer deposit products, just loans. I can’t imagine why you would be keeping your deposits there…

    • ol mate on 12/04/2025 - 09:22
      +2

      Not an ADI. Most likely not a real offset account (it's a pseudo-offset - actually part of the loan but made to look differently, or it's held by a different ADI with strings attached e.g. those you see now).

      Follow the IDR process, then go to AFCA are your only escalation methods. If you aren't happy, refinance away (but given you've gone to a lender of last resort, this mightn't be a viable option) or keep your offset funds in a HISA where you can easily access it (without the benefit of offset and the tax implications)

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