The idea

As an alternative to court action, which is often inconvenient, time-consuming and expensive, the private commercial banks have since July 1992 offered their clients a widely accepted, effective, unbureaucratic and quick dispute-settlement procedure performed by an independent and impartial person, the Ombudsman. The procedure is open primarily to consumers, but also to companies and self-employed persons in the event of disputes relating to credit transfers or misuse of a payment card. Details of the procedure and the admissibility requirements are set out in the “Rules of procedure for the settlement of customer complaints in the German banking sector” approved by the Federal Ministry of Justice (Rules of Procedure of the Ombudsman Scheme).