When a person has a problem with a bank or savings and loan or is mistreated by it, they can ask for a complaint form from that financial entity. Or they can file a complaint with the banking customers' ombudsman, whose main function is to protect consumer rights.�

Still, before filing a complaint over alleged errors or negligence, the customer should exhaust all traditional avenues by talking to the bank and discussing the problem.�

Banks: serving customers
Banks generally assign an employee for each customer to monitor their affairs. If that personal manager is not available, the responsibility fall on the branch manager. In the case of banking by phone or over the Internet, this task is up to the telephone customer service department.

If the customer is not satisfied with the response they get from the account manager, branch manager or customer service department, they can undertake other actions with specific documentary needs.�

How to file a complaint
The first step is to write down an account of the problem and submit it to the bank's customer affairs ombudsman. All banks and savings and loans in Spain must have such a person. The bank chooses this person itself, and they must be a tenured professor, judge or jurist. Although almost any kind of complaint can be filed with this figure, some areas are out of their jurisdiction, such as when the bank declines to offer a customer a certain service or won't give them a loan.�

Once the complaint is filed, the ombudsman must make a ruling within two months. But if this doesn't happen, or the client still isn't satisfied, the next step is for them to send a copy of their report to the complaints department at the Bank of Spain on Calle Alcal� 50, in Madrid.

This department has limited power because its rulings are not binding. Therefore, it cannot impose any kind of action on a bank. The central bank will simply say if the bank or savings and loan in question is following established banking procedures.

Still, the answer given by this department is of interest to the customer for the administrative-court legal action they might take. Therefore, if the customer file suit, the court will require that they first seek a ruling from the Bank of Spain as a condition for considering the complaint.

If the complaint is related to stock investments, the entity that is supposed to protect consumer rights is the stock market watchdog known as the Comisi�n Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV). Its address is Paseo de la Castellana 19, Madrid.

The Madrid stock market also has a special investor-protection service. The address is Plaza de la Lealtad 1, Madrid.