Malaga province banks return more than 74,000 euros to customers following complaints

Finance

The Bank of Spain has warned of an increase in complaints concerning fraud involving cards and transfers

Cristina Vallejo

Financial institutions in the province of Malaga refunded 74,363 euros to their customers in response to complaints filed with the Bank of Spain in 2025.

The annual report specifies that the average refund per customer was 204.30 euros. This represents the processing of 364 of the 1,101 complaints submitted to the regulator in the province last year.

Malaga ranks sixth among Spain's provinces for the number of complaints filed with the Bank of Spain, after Madrid (6,972); Barcelona (3,891); Valencia (1,745); Seville (1,410); and Alicante (1,208). These provinces account for slightly more than half of all complaints in Spain last year.

Another metric the Bank of Spain uses to measure the incidence of complaints against the financial sector is the number of complaints filed per 10,000 inhabitants.

In Malaga, there are six, coinciding with the Andalusian and Spanish averages. However, in Madrid, there were ten complaints per 10,000 inhabitants; while in Valladolid there were nine; in Guadalajara, eight; and in Seville, A Coruña, Zaragoza and Barcelona, seven.

The institution attributes the high rate in Madrid to several factors: the fact that the main headquarters of the financial institutions are located in the Spanish capital and that the law firms representing clients are also mostly based there.

While the proportion of claims accepted and settled in Malaga (around a third of the total) is similar to that of Spain as a whole, the average amount nationwide is much higher: it approaches 625 euros, reaching a total of 6.8 million.

Although Malaga accounted for 3.6% of all claims, it represents only 1.1% of the total refunded in the country in 2025. In Andalucía, more than half a million euros were refunded, at an average of just over 300 euros per claim.

In addition to the claims resolved in favour of the customer, there are some that are not accepted (around 40%) and there are also others that the Bank of Spain resolves in favour of the financial entities.

However, the report points out that the amount refunded by financial institutions thanks to its intermediation reached a record high last year and also highlights the diligence these institutions have shown, often returning the money even before the regulator issues its report on each case.

Malaga bucked the trend, as in 2024 the total amount refunded exceeded 236,000 euros and the average per complaint was 640, significantly higher than in 2025. It's important to note that this depends on the type of transaction being claimed: a 1,000-euro fraud that a bank has to refund is not the same as a small, incorrectly charged commission that needs to be returned. Therefore, it can be deduced that the transactions that prompted the complaints in the province must have been of a small size.

It's also important to factor in the fact that the Bank of Spain's complaints report reflects a significant decrease in complaints filed by customers, first with banks and then with the regulator.

Nationwide, 30,970 complaints were filed in 2025, representing a year-on-year drop of almost 45%. In Malaga, the decrease compared to the previous year was 32.5%.

While the reduction in the number of complaints was widespread across all provinces, the largest decrease was recorded in Teruel (-73.2%) and the smallest in Lugo (-9.1%).

The banking supervisory body attributes the decline in complaints to the subsiding of the exceptional peak in submissions regarding mortgage closing costs after the issue was taken to court.

This downward trend appears to have been halted in 2026, given that in the first four months the Bank of Spain has detected a 50% increase in complaints. If this continues, the year could end with more than 40,000 cases, which would still be below 2024, when more than 56,000 were reported nationwide.

In a preliminary analysis, the institution attributes the increase in the number of complaints registered so far this year to fraud.

The report also breaks down the financial products that generated the most complaints last year. Bank cards topped the list, accounting for 30.8% of all cases, followed by current accounts, transfers and direct debits (30%) and mortgages (23.7%). Personal loans ranked a distant fourth with 6.5%.

The report says most card-related complaints stem from fraud or scams targeting customers, as well as lenders' failure to provide the required documentation for revolving credit cards, which remain a frequent source of disputes.

"The card is the physical instrument fraudsters use to move funds unlawfully," the Bank of Spain says.

Complaints relating to current accounts mainly concern fraudulent transfers, along with fees and charges. Mortgage-related complaints have fallen since peaking in 2024, although they still generate a large number of smaller disputes.

Fraud accounted for the largest share of complaints last year at 27%, followed by mortgage arrangement fees (9.4%) and bank charges and commissions (8.4%).

The Bank of Spain highlights a sharp increase in complaints linked to fraudulent card payments and bank transfers, a trend that is also driving this year's rise in cases.

In its annual report, the regulator says complaints have shifted away from temporary issues linked to court rulings, such as mortgage arrangement fees, towards broader problems arising from the growing use of digital payment methods, particularly fraud.

Customers also complain that banks fail to provide the information and documentation they request or do not close accounts and financial products promptly when asked.

The Bank of Spain's latest annual report also reveals that only 7% of complaints submitted directly to financial institutions are later escalated to its own complaints service, which accepts cases both online and in person. It also reminds customers that they must first lodge a complaint with their bank before taking the case to the regulator.

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