Compliance Blog

Consumer complaints have been getting some attention lately.  Last month, NCUA Board Member Gigi Hyland addressed consumer complaints and consumer hotlines.  You can read the media advisory about her comments here.  In her comments, Board Member Hyland noted that Congress is considering the creation of a centralized financial institution complaint hotline and website. 

The alert notes:

"Addressing the first step in the process, Hyland urges listeners to start by airing their complaint with officials at their credit union. If consumers prefer not to speak to anyone there or they remain unsatisfied, they can contact a regional NCUA office, call NCUA’s toll-free consumer assistance number to speak to someone in NCUA’s central office, or send a letter or e-mail."

NCUA hosts a consumer complaint web page.  You can access it here.

Back in 2003, NCUA's Office of Inspector General reviewed how NCUA handles consumer complaints. You can access their report here.  It provides a good overview of the topic.

Where am I going with this?  When a member complains to you, there is a chance that this complaint may find its way to NCUA.  When faced with a member complaint, I would think of the following:

• How do we handle consumer complaints?  Do we log them?  How do we show whether a particular response is resolved?
• Would we respond differently if we knew the member were also complaining directly to NCUA via a carbon copy?  Or to the Better Business Bureau?

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The wedding is now roughly two months away.   My blood pressure is still OK, and my fiance and I are still civil with each other 98 percent of the time.  I consider both of those to be major accomplishments, given the flurry of activity and my incessant level of sarcasm.  I get tons of questions from you guys about the wedding, so I thought I'd share a few pictures from the wedding locale. (Which will be Syria, Virginia.)