Bank charges

I remember when i was in primary school. Maybank sent representative to my school to encourage the primary school students to save. The slogan the bank used at that time was “Sikit sikit lama lama jadi bukit” (Save bit bit, it will become a hill eventually). I opened a bank account with them, thinking that i might be rich if keep up the habit. But now the bank who taught me the value of saving has turn their back on me. They started to charge me for all their services, for no fucking reason. To get a clearer view of the whole issue, Claudia Theophilus wrote an article in Malaysiakini

The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry wants banks to furnish it with details of the service charges they are currently imposing on customers. Deputy Minister S Veerasingam said the ministry had made the request to all the banks two months ago following numerous complaints about the increasing number of charges that were being imposed for various online as well as over-the-counter transactions.

“Although we have so far only received verbal complaints, we have acted on it by asking the banks to give the full detail on the type of charges they are imposing on customers,” he told malaysiakini yesterday.

“In fact, many were totally unaware of these charges until later, when they realised that small amounts were being debited from their accounts.”

He said one of the complaints involved a third party who wanted to cash a cheque and was shocked when told to pay a RM2 service charge.

“This does not happen if the cheque is cashed personally by the account holder.”

Promptly and seriously only one or two banks have responded so far, said Veerasingam. He hoped the rest would come in soon.

“This is something that Bank Negara must look into promptly and very seriously.”

None of the central bank officials could be reached for comment.
Effective Dec 20, Maybank will start imposing a RM12 annual subscription fee for customers using its Internet banking facility, Maybank2u.com, where an upgraded posting explains the service charge.

The Maybank2u website states that fees and commissions are levied on various products and services provided by Maybank. The move has prompted hundreds of protest e-mails to the Maybank Group Contact Centre whose response has been a standard format e-mail to all customers, regardless of their queries or suggestions. An online petition is currently making its rounds via e-mails asking the Malaysian, Singaporean and Filipino customers of the country’s largest banking group to show the power of consumers by signing it before Dec 19. Don’t remain silent

Referring to the latest charge by Maybank2u.com to be imposed, the petition said it was ridiculous to pay service charges for “keeping our money in your bank”.

“You (Maybank) use our money to invest in your projects. You give us minimal interest, and you ask us to pay for using services that are given free by other banks!” read the petition, partly in English and Bahasa Malaysia.

The protest note also claimed that Maybank was the only bank to charge 50 sen for withdrawing “our own money” at the ATM for every withdrawal exceeding four times a month.

In Bahasa Malaysia, the note expressed regret that customers did not protest against the 50 sen charge when it was first imposed a few months ago.

“If we continue to remain silent, I’m sure the banks will impose more charges on us in the future.

“It is because we had failed to protest previously that this is happening now. Come, let’s act. Enough is enough!” the petition concludes.

“Let’s teach them (a lesson) by clicking on the ‘reject’ option on the subscription page in protest of their new terms.”

The petition ends with a call to all Malaysians to show their consumer power by uniting behind this one issue.

Sometimes, i wonder if the bank care about us, the consumer. As my friend put it “Every businessman will try to cheat money off the consumer no matter how ethical they are”. Isn’t the Bank suppose to be our most trusted business companion?