The Credit Ombudsman Service has made a number of changes to its processes that it hopes will reduce delays in complaints resolution.Changes detailed in COSL's annual report, which was released yesterday, include doubling the size of its case management team over the past two years.COSL said it is taking a tougher stance when members ask for extensions and it has adopted a policy of reporting recalcitrant financial service providers to the consumer credit regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. It is hosting training programs for members aimed at improving their ability to resolve more complaints internally.Delay in resolving complaints is the banking industry's biggest gripe about the external dispute resolution bodies, COSL and the Financial Ombudsman Service.Earlier this year, ASIC reported that it had received a number of submissions on the issue and recommended the EDR schemes look for ways to speed up their processes.COSL's chief executive, Raj Vega, said in the annual report: "Increasing caseloads have become a common feature among dispute resolution schemes in Australia [a result of the requirement under national consumer law that credit providers must join an EDR scheme], and we have seen resultant delays in resolving complaints."Complaints to COSL increased by 38 per cent during the year 2011/12 financial year. The number of complaints was 2,700 and the number of inquiries totalled 15,000.The median number of days to resolve a complaint was 77 days, while the average was 139 days. More than 25 per cent of cases took more than six months to resolve.Of complaints resolved during the year, 31.5 per cent were resolved in favour of the complainant, 35.8 per cent were not substantiated and 32.7 per cent were resolved by mutual agreement.Financial hardship complaints made up 36 per cent of complaints, specifically, the failure of a lender to agree to a payment variation for a customer experiencing hardship.Venga said: "On a positive note, compared to the previous year, more lenders are taking account of financial hardship before commencing enforcement action. However, many lenders are still not properly considering whether a change in the borrower's payment obligations would be appropriate."In 65 per cent of financial hardship complaints received, lenders had commenced enforcement action against borrowers.Among product types, consumer loans were the cause of 83.5 per cent of complaints, investment loans constituted 10.6 per cent and business loans constituted 5.9 per cent. The single biggest product category was personal loans, which were the cause of 46.7 per cent of complaints.