Larger financial institutions receive lion's share of complaints, study finds

In the wake of the housing crisis of the late 2000s, a host of fraud and misconduct charges against big banks alleging everything from illegal manipulation of financial markets to the latest scandal involving customers being charged fees for accounts they never opened, and savings rates returning virtually nothing to depositors, it's little surprise that consumer satisfaction is at an all-time low.

In the last five years, according to a study released last week by the consumer research site ValuePenguin, San Diego residents have lodged 2379 complaints with the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, most of them related to mortgages.

That number is lower than other areas in the state, which as a whole opened nearly 42,000 cases against banks during that time. Of those, 23 percent were disputed — that is, the consumer ultimately wound up dissatisfied with the resolution offered by the bank.

Most often, customers unhappy with their bank wind up with no choice but to accept the bank's judgment.

"Banks have included forced arbitration clauses to prevent their customers from joining together to sue them," writes Andrea Luquetta-Kern, director of policy and research at the California Reinvestment Coalition. "However, the good news is that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is proposing rules that will likely eliminate bank's ability to use arbitration clauses with their customers."

A proposal to this effect was released for public comment in May, though it's been in the planning stages since late 2015 and no date for easing of arbitration requirements has been set.

Meanwhile, banks are not tied to the same restrictions when it comes to fighting sanctions imposed by regulators, which experts say may make regulatory bodies reluctant to issue negative reports.

"Regulators are cautious when writing up bigger banks and citing violations. They know once they issue their exit memorandum and citations for violation of regulations, policy and procedures ... they could be sued, challenged by official filing of complaint plus objection to findings," said financial advising firm Aegis FinServ Corp's president Jim Singleton, also in the ValuePenguin report.

San Diego banks receiving the most complaints were fairly well-aligned with the group's statewide and national findings. Bank of America had the highest incidence of bureau reports (and more than a quarter of the statewide total), followed by Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, and U.S. Bank.