THE BLOODSUCKING BANKS
by Tgopal
Kota Damansara
Once upon a time, not too long ago, when the communication system in the world was at it’s infancy, we had so much problems dealing with banks.
Transferring of fund may take days or even weeks. To withdraw RM10, you may have to queue up for one hour or longer. If you had found a discrepancy in your bank statement, it may take months because the bank clerks/officers had to manually search for files which may be located in a store room hundreds of kilometers away.
But thanks to the latest communication technology now, almost all transactions performed at your fingertips in a matter of seconds, or at least we were convinced that way.
Let’s look at two scenarios and I leave it to the judgment of the readers on to what extent our banks are exploiting us, the customers without whom, they will never exist.
Way back in 1993, when I was still working with a local bank, a house cheque banked into a savings account will be cleared immediately but would be under one day float if it’s deposited into a current account. Still, if the current account holder had an ATM card, he could withdraw the fund after 5pm the same day.
Local cheques would be cleared in two days using KLACH system, in which, these cheques would be sent to the account holder’s branch so that the officers there could verify signature and other technical details. Simply put, if I bank in a local cheque at 3pm on Monday, I can withdraw the money on Tuesday after 5pm at any ATMs.
Fast forward to year 2007. If I bank in the same local cheque at 3pm on Monday, I can only withdraw the cash through ATM on Thursday morning, that this TWO full working days later! ( except for Public Bank, where you can withdraw the night before).
With so much of improvement in the information technology, aren’t we supposed get access to our fund earlier. Why is this working the other way around?
For your information, the account of the customer who issued the cheque will be debited on Monday itself but is credited to the payees account only on Thursday. Now, who’s keeping the fund for two days?
Having worked in the Treasury Department in a financial institution before, I can easily assume that these banks will make hell of profits from interest by lending it to other banks for just two days! And we are talking about billions of fund under float, not millions!
You can argue that the bank passes the interest income back to the customers but for low income earners whom keep less that RM1000 a month in their account, they almost get nothing! On top of that another RM8 or RM10 will be deducted annually for having ATM card. So, am I wrong in assuming that the banks actually exploit the customers, especially the low income earners by denying them access to their own fund and keep in under float for the bank’s own benefit?
A house cheque banked in into savings accounts used to be cleared immediately since the officer at the branch has access to the specimen signature of the customer and can do it straight away, and by the way, they are getting paid to do that, right? But not anymore.
Recently I went to bank in a house cheque at RHB branch and I was told to bank in through the ATM machine. I refused because these cheques would be sent for clearing and it will take three days before I can see my cash. Why sent the cheque for clearing when all particulars and specimen signatures are already at the branch itself?
As usual, the standard answer given was “It’s the decision by HQ and we just follow instructions”. When I insist the cheque to be cleared immediately, they said I have to pay RM10 as a service charge, according to a directive from HQ.
There was a notice on the wall on the service charges approved by Bank Negara but this item was not even there! I did make a complaint and until today, you can guess, no response from their HQ. They must be busy spending their time on how to better make use of the IT technology to further exploit us.
Another problem which affects the low income earners is the ATM machine. It was so much convenient at the beginning but now almost all the banks playing the same trick. They only load RM50 notes into the machines and not RM10 notes, although they have space to do it.
Assuming a low income earner makes RM790 per month after deductions. He can only withdraw RM750. How about the remaining RM40? Well, he has no choice but to keep it in his account because he is working 6 days a week, so you don’t expect him to go to the bank counter and queue up to one hour to withdraw that RM40, right?
In case of an emergency situation where he has to use that cash, like running out of petrol for his motorbike, well, sorry folks. You still have to pay ATM service charges every year but you still cannot withdraw your own money! Sounds absurd, right? And why the banks are doing this?
Again my assumption is for the interest income from inter bank lending. Imagine RM40 from 100,000 customers left in the account against their will for 30 days. At 3% p.a in comes to a cool RM10,000 for the bank for the month. Aren’t the customers will also receive their share?
Dream on, guys. Ask any banks how much is the net interest gained by having an average balance of RM40 for one whole year. It’s actually becomes negative after deducting the service charge for the useless(?) ATM card.
Although the right channel for me to complaint is by complaining to Bank Negara, I prefer not to do it because aren’t they supposed to know by themselves on the ways banks exploit their customers?
I heard some of the best brains in the country are employed there. I only have an ordinary brain but if I can engage it and find out various dirty methods used by banks. Why don’t they? Or do they know about it and was asked to “tutup satu mata” by someone high up there who rub shoulders with the directors of the commercial banks?