How To Complain About A Bank or Money Lender in Malaysia

Where to Take Your Complaint About a Bank or Lender

This guide covers complaints about credit cards, personal loans, and licensed lenders in Malaysia. It explains where to take each kind of problem, what each body can do, and what to have ready before you start.

Most complaints are sorted out by the bank or lender itself, so that's where the guide begins. If the bank's answer turns out to be wrong or unfair, there are two other options that can step in. The Financial Markets Ombudsman Service (FMOS) deals with money problems, like a refund or a charge that shouldn't have been made. BNMLINK, which reaches Bank Negara Malaysia, deals with banks that broke the rules or treated customers badly. They aren't steps in a line. You go to one or the other depending on the problem. Licensed lenders are handled separately, by a body called KPKT.

How To Complain to Your Bank or Lender

The bank or lender should always hear about the problem first. The other bodies will check that you've done this before they step in.

Send your complaint by email, not a phone call. An email gives you a dated record of what you said, which a call doesn't. Most banks list a complaint email on their website, usually under customer care or contact.

Keep the email simple and factual. Say what happened, the date it happened, the amount if money is involved, and which card, loan, or account it's about. If you've already called or visited a branch, mention that and the date.

What to Gather Before You Write to The Bank

Have these ready so your complaint is complete from the start:

• Screenshots of the charge, payment, or error
• Your full message history with the bank across email, WhatsApp, SMS, or the app
• Your card, loan, or account number
• The name of anyone you've already spoken to

When the bank finishes, it should send a written reply: what it found, what it will or won't do, and what you can do if you don't agree.

When Your Complaint Can Be Taken Further

Not every reply you dislike can be challenged. If the bank turns down a fee waiver, or says no to something it's allowed to refuse, that's a final answer. What can go further is a decision you have a real reason to think is wrong. For example, the bank says a charge was yours when you can show you were overseas at the time, or its reply skips over the main thing you complained about. Cases like that are what FMOS will look at.

How Financial Markets Ombudsman Service (FMOS) Handles Money Complaints

What FMOS Is and How Can They Help

The Financial Markets Ombudsman Service (FMOS) is a free, independent body that settles money complaints against banks and lenders. It isn't tied to any bank, so it looks at both sides of the facts. FMOS can tell a bank to refund you, reverse a charge, or correct your record. This is the part Bank Negara Malaysia can't do, which is why money problems come here.

What Problems Can FMOS Resolve

FMOS looks at money and contract problems, such as:

• A charge or payment that left your account without your approval, which the bank won't return
• A fee you were never told about when you signed up
• A card or loan that turned out different from what you were sold (this is called misselling, meaning you were sold it based on wrong or missing information)
• Wrong information the bank sent to CCRIS or CTOS that's hurting your credit record, like a loan you've paid off still showing as unpaid

What FMOS Can't Help With

Some things sit outside what FMOS can do:

• A loan or card application the bank turned down. Banks are allowed to say no, and FMOS can't change that.
• Any claim above RM250,000
• A case already in court
• Anything about a licensed lender, which goes to KPKT

When Can You Take Your Complaint to FMOS

You can take a complaint to FMOS in two situations:

• The bank sent you a final written reply, and you have a real reason to think it's wrong, unfair, or that it ignored the main point you raised. You have six months from the date of that reply to go to FMOS. After six months, you may lose the chance.
• The bank didn't reply at all within 60 working days. You can go straight to FMOS.

What You Need Before Contacting FMOS

Have these ready before you contact them:

• The bank's final written reply
• Any reference numbers the bank gave you, both for the original complaint and the final reply, if you have them
• Your full message history with the bank
• Supporting documents, such as screenshots and copies of anything you signed
• A short written timeline of what happened, with dates and names

How the FMOS Complaint Process Works

FMOS works in two stages. First it contacts you and the bank to try to reach an agreement. If that doesn't work, it sends both sides a written recommendation within 30 days of getting all your documents, and each side has 30 days to accept or reject it.

If either side says no, FMOS looks again and makes a final decision within 14 days. If you accept it, the bank has to follow it. If you don't, you can still go to court.

Most cases close within three to six months. The service is free and covers losses up to RM250,000.

FMOS Contact Details

Complaining to BNMLINK (Bank Negara Malaysia)

When to Use BNMLINK Instead of FMOS

BNMLINK is how you reach Bank Negara Malaysia. Use it when you want a bank reported for breaking the rules or treating customers badly, rather than when you want money back. Bank Negara Malaysia checks the bank's conduct and can order it to fix things and fine it, but it doesn't return money to individual customers. That side is FMOS's job.

So the two split cleanly: FMOS for a money result, BNMLINK for a conduct or rules result. You don't have to go through one before the other. BNMLINK fits when:

• A branch employee was rude or unprofessional, for example shouting at you or refusing to help for no clear reason
• A bank said it would reply within a set number of days and then didn't
• A bank is doing something that affects many customers, not just you, like charging a fee it never told anyone about
• You have a question about your rights, such as what a bank must tell you before you sign up, or what it can do when it closes your account

BNMLINK doesn't cover licensed lenders, cooperatives, or credit companies, and it won't take a case already in court. Licensed lenders go to KPKT.

What You Need Before Contacting BNMLINK

Bank Negara Malaysia prefers complaints through its online form, and a few conditions apply first. You have to be the person directly affected, not someone complaining for another. You must have already complained to the bank, and at least 14 calendar days must have passed since. The case can't already be with FMOS or in court, and it can't be about bankruptcy or unclaimed money.

It also helps to have your MyKad number, email, and phone number ready, along with the bank's name, a clear account of what happened and when, and any supporting files saved to your device.

BNMLINK Contact Details

Complaining to KPKT About a Licensed Lender

Licensed lenders are non-bank lenders licensed under the Moneylenders Act 1951. They aren't banks, and they sit outside Bank Negara Malaysia's control, so FMOS and BNMLINK can't help with them. The Kementerian Perumahan dan Kerajaan Tempatan (KPKT) handles them instead.

How to Check If a Lender Is Licensed

Check the lender is licensed before you do anything else. KPKT's official app, i-KrediKom, lets you confirm this. A licensed lender also has to show you its licence if you ask.

What You Can Complain to KPKT About

You can complain to KPKT if the lender has broken the Moneylenders Act 1951. The common problems:

• Charging more than the legal interest rate, or adding fees nobody mentioned. The legal limit is 18% a year on a loan with no security, or 12% a year on a loan backed by something you own, like a car or property.
• Not giving you the right documents, or asking you to sign something incomplete
• Using threats or pressure to make you pay
• Refusing to let you see your repayment history or records
• Holding your MyKad, ATM card, or passport as a condition of the loan

What KPKT Can and Can't Do

KPKT can suspend or cancel a lender's licence, order it to recalculate your loan at the right rate, or take it to court if the breach is serious. If there are threats or harassment, KPKT passes the case to the police. What it can't do is rewrite a loan you simply regret, or act as a debt counsellor. The lender has to have broken the law.

How to File a Complaint with KPKT

Submit through KPKT's online complaints system. Include your loan agreement details (amount, interest rate, repayment terms), records of any payments such as receipts or transfer slips, and all your messages with the lender.

Your complaint goes to the Community Credit Control Division, known as Bahagian Kawalan Kredit Komuniti (BKK), the KPKT division that licenses and monitors these lenders. Officers review it and may call both sides in to talk or ask for more documents.

KPKT Contact Details