RBI’s Ombudsman Report 2024-25 shows a 20% jump in credit card grievances, and most of them are against private banks. This reflects not just aggressive selling, but rising customer anger over charges, lack of transparency and the very way banks now work.
The story begins with a simple question: When a bank offers a shiny new credit card, who really understands the full cost of that plastic – the customer or the bank? The RBI’s Annual Ombudsman Scheme Report 2024-25 suggests that more and more customers are discovering the real price only after the bill arrives.
Credit card-related complaints jumped 20.04% in FY25 to 50,811 cases, making this one of the hottest zones of conflict between banks and their customers. So what exactly are people so unhappy about – Is it just late fees and interest, or something deeper about trust and transparency?
Look at where the complaints are coming from and the plot becomes clearer. Private sector banks, which now hold about 40% of India’s banking assets, have become the biggest source of grievances overall, and especially when it comes to credit cards.
Out of the 50,811 credit card complaints, a massive 32,696 were against private banks, showing how sharply the complaints map onto the aggressive expansion of private card businesses.
Why this imbalance – Are private banks worse behaved, or simply more present in the credit card market? The report hints that because private banks issue far more cards and push unsecured lending harder, they naturally attract more disputes as usage and complexity both rise.
At the same time, another question emerges: If technology is the villain, why are other digital areas improving? Complaints related to ATM and debit card transactions fell by 28.33% to 18,082 cases in FY25, while mobile and electronic banking complaints dropped by 12.74% year-on-year, suggesting that core digital systems are becoming more stable and user-friendly.
Pension complaints declined by 33.81%, remittances and collection issues fell by 9.73%, and para banking complaints reduced by 24.16%, showing that many traditional pain points are actually easing. So why do credit cards stand out as a sore spot even as other channels become smoother?
The answer takes us beyond technology into customer psychology and bank behaviour. When a customer writes to the Ombudsman – The RBI-appointed authority that handles grievances when the bank’s own system fails to satisfy – it usually means frustration has crossed a threshold.
People often feel bombarded with fine print, complex interest calculations, annual fees, GST on charges, insurance add-ons and a host of penalties that they do not fully recall consenting to. This raises the question, are customers angry because banks are working badly, or because banks are working too cleverly? Hidden or poorly explained charges, aggressive cross-selling and opaque disclosures feed a perception that the relationship is tilted heavily in favour of the bank.
Zooming out to the overall complaint landscape adds one more layer to the story. The Ombudsman offices received 2,96,321 complaints in FY25, a marginal 0.82% rise over the previous year, but within this, the share against private banks climbed from 34.39% to 37.53%, reaching 1,11,199 grievances.
Public sector banks, long seen as slow and complaint-heavy, actually saw their share fall from 38.32% to 34.80%, even though their absolute complaints still stood at 1,03,117, showing that dissatisfaction is slowly tilting towards the private side as their market footprint expands. Does this mean customers now expect more from slick, app-driven private banks, and therefore feel more cheated when something goes wrong?
Behind all these numbers are individual customers, who filed 2,58,365 complaints – 87.19% of the total – proving that this is not just a corporate or institutional tussle, but a retail pain point.
Loans and advances remained the single largest category with 86,670 complaints, and together with credit cards, they form the core zone of tension around borrowing, repayment, data, and charges. Even small finance banks, which are supposed to be close to the underserved, saw complaints jump 42% year-on-year, signalling that rapid growth without matching systems and communication can quickly turn trust into anxiety.
In the end, the Ombudsman report reads almost like a mirror held up to both sides: banks racing ahead with products, targets and technology, and customers struggling to decode costs, conditions and consequences.
Are customers satisfied with the way banks work today, or are they quietly voting with complaints instead of confidence? The surge in credit card grievances suggests that until banks simplify disclosures, clean up charges and communicate with real transparency, the plastic in people’s wallets will keep buying convenience on the surface – and resentment underneath.
