Dear banks, we're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore

Macquarie Bank had the best agreement rate (95 per cent) among the companies subject to most disputes / File Source: Bloomberg

IF you've had a fight with your bank, you're not alone.

There has been a 30 per cent rise in the number of disputes between borrowers and banks in the past financial year.

And many of these happened after the Queensland and Victorian floods and storms.

The Financial Ombudsman Service dealt with more than 30,000 angry customers past financial year - an increase of 27 per cent.

Fairfax reports that non-bank lenders were the worst offenders, with GE Money averaging 434 disputes per 100,000 customers.

And National Australia Bank was the worst of the big banks, at 66 disputes.

Among the worst credit card company offenders were ACM Group, Credit Corp Services, Lion Finance, Macquarie Bank, HSBC Bank and Citigroup.

The ACM Group dealt with 113 disputes for every 100,000 accounts.

This is compared with a national median of 18.7 disputes.

BANK SA, which is a division of Westpac Bank, had the lowest rate, at 3.1.

More than 70 per cent of these disputes were resolved by negotiation with the financial institution. 

And Macquarie Bank was the most successful at resolving the dispute through an agreement - with a success rate of 95 per cent.

For consumer loans, Gredit Corp Services, Bank of Queensland, Lombard Finance, National Australia Bank, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank were the most likely to have a dispute - with rates higher than 44.25 per 100,000.

For motor vehicle insurance, Youi and the Hollard Insurance Company were the most likely to have disputes, at three or more times the median of 11.90 per 100,000 policies.

RAC Insurance, RACQ, Suncorp Metway, Australian Alliance and A&G Insurance Services ranked the best.

Among home and contents insurance providers, Hollard, AAMI, CGU and Suncorp had the highest dispute ratios.

Elders Insurance and Wesfarmers General Insurance had the best scores in that category.

But Home and content providers were more likely to put up a fight with the customer.

The median chance of a dispute going to ombudsman for travel insurers was 10 in 100,000 accounts.

But QBE Insurance, Cover-More Insurance, Chartis Australia and ACE Insurance were better than the median.

Many travel insurance disputes were not resolved by agreement, with FOS often finding for insurers.

The ombudsman also reported dispute figures for providers of credit insurance, warranties, housing finance, life and other types of insurance, housing finance and superannuation.

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