How to file a BSP consumer complaint — online and on paper

BSP supervises banks, quasi-banks, non-stock savings and loan associations, pawnshops, money-service businesses, electronic-money issuers and operators of payment systems. If your respondent is an SEC-registered lending or financing company (most online lending apps and motor-vehicle lenders fall here), the SEC — not BSP — is the front-line regulator.

Check the company's registration before filing. The BSP maintains a list of supervised institutions; the SEC maintains a separate list of lending and financing companies. Filing with the wrong agency does not block you, but it adds weeks. If both regulators have a slice (for example, a pawnshop that also acts as a remittance agent), file with both — concurrent jurisdiction is permitted under RA 11765.

Under BSP Circular 1160 (2022) and RA 11765, a BSP-supervised institution must operate a Financial Consumer Protection mechanism with stated turnaround times. Before BSP will mediate, you must show that you contacted the company and either received no resolution or were not answered within the institution's published response window.

Send a written complaint to the company's customer service email or branch. Save the date, the channel, the agent name if any, and any reference number issued. Wait fifteen business days before escalating. That figure is a reasonable deadline you set, not a statutory one: RA 11765 §8(f) requires the institution to act on your complaint and to suspend interest, fees and charges while a disputed or unauthorised transaction is investigated, and BSP Circular 1160 requires an immediate written acknowledgement and notice of the result within three banking days of the investigation concluding — but neither fixes a deadline to finish. If the company replies but the answer does not address your complaint, that reply is itself a piece of evidence; keep it.

BOB is BSP's chat-based intake. It is reachable from the BSP website ConsumerAssistance landing page, on Facebook Messenger (search "BSP Online Buddy"), and via SMS on Globe and Smart short-codes (211365 and 211632 respectively). BOB walks you through identification, respondent details, and a free-text narrative. At the end, you receive a complaint reference number; keep it.

The key fields are: full name, contact channel, BSFI (the supervised institution), product or service, transaction date, amount in dispute, and a narrative. BOB allows file attachments through the web and Messenger paths but not over SMS. If your evidence is large or you need to attach more than three documents, use the email path in Step 4 instead.

If you have many attachments, email is more reliable than BOB. Address the message to consumeraffairs@bsp.gov.ph. Use a subject line of the form: "Consumer Complaint — [Company name] — [Transaction date]". In the body, include identification, respondent, transaction details, prior contact with the company (with dates), and the relief you are requesting (refund, restitution, written explanation, or an order to cease a specific practice).

Attach scanned or photographed copies of: a government ID, the contract or pawn ticket, the receipts or transaction records, and screenshots of every prior message you sent the company. CC yourself so you have the timestamped record of what was filed.

Customers without reliable internet can still file. Download the Consumer Assistance Form (Form CAS-1) from the BSP website, complete it by hand, and mail or hand-deliver it to: Consumer Protection and Market Conduct Office, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, A. Mabini Street, Malate, Manila 1004. The walk-in counter accepts the same form. The complaint hotline is (02) 8708-7087.

Paper filings receive the same reference number system as electronic filings. Processing is slower because of intake digitisation, so paper filings should attach photocopies of all evidence (originals will not be returned).

Once filed, the complaint is routed to the supervised institution for response. BSP mediates first; if mediation fails, the case can be referred to adjudication under the Financial Consumer Protection Department. BSP-CAM sets no fixed acknowledgement or resolution deadline, so do not wait for a date that is owed to you — track your reference number and keep pressing.

If you have had no acknowledgement after a couple of weeks, follow up by replying to the original email or sending a new BOB ticket referencing the original number. If the case stalls with no resolution, escalate to the Financial Consumer Protection Department directly. Keep filing additional evidence as you collect it — for example, repeat incidents, additional collection-call recordings, or new documents.