[Banker Tragedy③] "One Person Filed 150 Complaints in 3 Years"... Exhausted by Emotional Complaints

["Enduring Again Today"... The Cruel Story of Bank Employees] Series

<1> "Threatened to Stab Me" Tearful Note
<2> Good Branch Manager, Bad Branch Manager
<3> Harassment Complaints Are Increasing

[Asia Economy Reporters Sim Nayoung and Song Seungseop] Kim Hyunwoo (40, pseudonym), who works at a local Nonghyup branch, encountered a high-profile black consumer after 10 years in banking. Over three years, this person filed complaints 150 times using every possible channel, including the headquarters, the Financial Supervisory Service, and the National Ombudsman. At first, when he walked into the branch, he was just seen as the owner of a small factory. However, when his loan repayment became overdue and he was denied additional loans, he suddenly changed.

Kim said, "Since you can't file the same complaint more than three times, he kept raising all sorts of complaints, claiming that the staff were unfriendly, that he was not allowed to meet the branch manager, or that promotional gifts were not given." Both the branch staff and the authorities who received the complaints were taken aback. Eventually, the Financial Supervisory Service even decided not to forward any more complaints from this customer to the bank.

The number of repeated complaints increases every year

The number of repeated complaints against banks has been increasing every year. In the financial industry, there are concerns that since the Financial Consumer Protection Act (hereafter, FCPA) was passed in March 2020, there has been a growing worry about consumers abusing their rights as troublesome customers. Repeated complaints often reflect black consumer behavior, where customers repeatedly file emotional complaints about issues that have been properly resolved or provoke complaints to harass staff without any intention of financial transactions.

According to statistics from the Korea Federation of Banks, the total number of dispute resolution applications was 921 in 2018 → 1,462 in 2019 → 1,797 in 2020 → 1,375 in 2021, showing a decline since last year. However, the number of repeated dispute resolution applications shows a different trend. During the same period, it increased continuously from 279 → 402 → 511 → 655.

Looking at the total and repeated dispute resolution applications over the past four years (2018?2021) among the five major commercial banks, Hana Bank had the highest numbers (total 1,368, repeated 716), followed by Woori Bank (total 1,169, repeated 384). Shinhan Bank (total 821, repeated 206), KB Kookmin Bank (total 502, repeated 131), and NH Nonghyup Bank (total 432, repeated 108) followed in that order.

The 'always submissive' approach cannot solve the problem

Cha Jeongsik (35, pseudonym), a sixth-year banker, said, "On the day a complaint was filed against me recently, even the branch manager, who was out on an external business trip all day, got a call late at night and scolded me," adding, "After receiving a few complaints, you become a traitor at the branch." When a banker personally receives complaints, their KPI is reduced, the branch bonus decreases, and even their superiors’ promotions are negatively affected.

Despite this situation, the proportion of consumer response in bankers’ performance indicators has increased. After the 2019 private equity fund incident, the weight of face-to-face customer service evaluation in KPIs was significantly raised. This contributed to creating an atmosphere where even if troublesome customers filed exaggerated complaints and made unreasonable demands, staff had to respond submissively.

Hyun Eunju, a research fellow at the Financial Economics Research Institute, said, "The Financial Consumer Protection Act can be interpreted as an unfair business practice if a financial company restricts or refuses transactions with black consumers." She added, "In New Zealand’s banking ombudsman system, there was a case in 2020 where a customer’s account was closed because the customer verbally abused bank staff, and this was recognized. Therefore, South Korea also needs to organize responses to black consumers, led by financial authorities."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.