Sunday, May 11, 2008
Bank Wank
Fucken tell me about it.
My bank has really given me the shits in the last week. I got an unnarranged overdraft (thanks to some money going out for our electricity bill and then me buying a couple of things) a week or so ago and BANG, a $20 over-draft fee is taken out.
I nearly shat my pants, because when you get an overdraft of $38 or whatever it was I hardly think stealing $20 off somebody is justified. So I sent them an angry email and they explained my options (all shit) and then said that they would refund the $20 as some sort of commercial relationship thing or some thing or other. So I do suggest those whinges as they often get results. It's not the first time it's worked for me with these leaches.
Anyway, what really gives me the shits is that I can arrange to have overdrafts charged at a special rate like 0.12% of the amount the account is overdrawn but to do so I have to pay $2 a month for the privelege. So that's $24 annually plus however much on top of that. The other thing which really fucked me off was that in years gone by if there was no money in my account I couldn't get anything out. It would refuse the transaction. That can be a pain in the arse but it's not the end of the world. I have a credit card and can simply use it instead. They say they give you an overdraft to avoid the embarrassment of a declined transaction but I'm more embarrassed to get molested by the bank for $20 than to have to pull out my credit card or use my fast saver account instead of my cheque account. I mean for fucks sakes, don't tell me it's it hailing while pouring sheep droppings on my head.
But to go right back to the beginning, they caused the whole fucking problem in the first place. I get all the bills I can each month taken from my credit card automatically but received a letter from my electricity company saying that my bank was now going to charge a $3 a month service fee for using it so I thought, fuck that and so got them to take it automatically from my cheque account (no fee) and that's made it a shit load harder to know precisely how much money is in my cheque account at any one time (especially in winter). Mind you, with food, petrol, rates, electricity all climbing skyward by the week that's usually about ZERO dollars and ZERO cents so maybe I should know better.
These pricks though seriously need to get robbed more often. This year so far I have paid them $4,065 in interest on my mortgage, plus monthly account fees, overdraft interest, credit card interest, loading fees, overdraft fees, account service card fees and true rewards fees. That will end up at about $12,000 in effectively straight profit for them from me alone and yet they still find ways of ripping me off every chance they get. And I swear they collude with other companies. My insurance company refunded me $22. And despite me giving it to them through a direct debit (meaning they have my account details), they sent me a cheque in the mail. Of course that means I then lose processing fees and bank teller fees plus wasting my time going there. They could have simply deposited it in my account but they no doubt do a cost benefit analysis and work out that people are less likely to bother getting time off during the day and going to a bank and taking the fee hit and banking it so they end up with it sitting in their account earning interest or the customer loses the cheque or can't be fucked and never gets the money.
Seriously. Is there ANYBODY out there that is going to stop ripping us plebs the fuck off?!
My bank has really given me the shits in the last week. I got an unnarranged overdraft (thanks to some money going out for our electricity bill and then me buying a couple of things) a week or so ago and BANG, a $20 over-draft fee is taken out.
I nearly shat my pants, because when you get an overdraft of $38 or whatever it was I hardly think stealing $20 off somebody is justified. So I sent them an angry email and they explained my options (all shit) and then said that they would refund the $20 as some sort of commercial relationship thing or some thing or other. So I do suggest those whinges as they often get results. It's not the first time it's worked for me with these leaches.
Anyway, what really gives me the shits is that I can arrange to have overdrafts charged at a special rate like 0.12% of the amount the account is overdrawn but to do so I have to pay $2 a month for the privelege. So that's $24 annually plus however much on top of that. The other thing which really fucked me off was that in years gone by if there was no money in my account I couldn't get anything out. It would refuse the transaction. That can be a pain in the arse but it's not the end of the world. I have a credit card and can simply use it instead. They say they give you an overdraft to avoid the embarrassment of a declined transaction but I'm more embarrassed to get molested by the bank for $20 than to have to pull out my credit card or use my fast saver account instead of my cheque account. I mean for fucks sakes, don't tell me it's it hailing while pouring sheep droppings on my head.
But to go right back to the beginning, they caused the whole fucking problem in the first place. I get all the bills I can each month taken from my credit card automatically but received a letter from my electricity company saying that my bank was now going to charge a $3 a month service fee for using it so I thought, fuck that and so got them to take it automatically from my cheque account (no fee) and that's made it a shit load harder to know precisely how much money is in my cheque account at any one time (especially in winter). Mind you, with food, petrol, rates, electricity all climbing skyward by the week that's usually about ZERO dollars and ZERO cents so maybe I should know better.
These pricks though seriously need to get robbed more often. This year so far I have paid them $4,065 in interest on my mortgage, plus monthly account fees, overdraft interest, credit card interest, loading fees, overdraft fees, account service card fees and true rewards fees. That will end up at about $12,000 in effectively straight profit for them from me alone and yet they still find ways of ripping me off every chance they get. And I swear they collude with other companies. My insurance company refunded me $22. And despite me giving it to them through a direct debit (meaning they have my account details), they sent me a cheque in the mail. Of course that means I then lose processing fees and bank teller fees plus wasting my time going there. They could have simply deposited it in my account but they no doubt do a cost benefit analysis and work out that people are less likely to bother getting time off during the day and going to a bank and taking the fee hit and banking it so they end up with it sitting in their account earning interest or the customer loses the cheque or can't be fucked and never gets the money.
Seriously. Is there ANYBODY out there that is going to stop ripping us plebs the fuck off?!
Labels: arseholes, banks, money
Comments:
Join the ripped off by your own bank club!
I recall about year ago shortly before pay day and there was only a few dollars in my account.
Then ASB took out my month's transaction fees and it took it to about -$1....and whatayaknow those muther fuckers charge me a $20 unauthorised overdraft fee.
As I pointed out to the unlucky teller who had to deal with me - it wasn't an unapproved overdraft as it was the bank that had taken the fucking money out of the account in the first place.
They eventually refunded the money, and I eventually decided they could keep their lives.
I recall about year ago shortly before pay day and there was only a few dollars in my account.
Then ASB took out my month's transaction fees and it took it to about -$1....and whatayaknow those muther fuckers charge me a $20 unauthorised overdraft fee.
As I pointed out to the unlucky teller who had to deal with me - it wasn't an unapproved overdraft as it was the bank that had taken the fucking money out of the account in the first place.
They eventually refunded the money, and I eventually decided they could keep their lives.
If I was going to change banks it would probably be to them but I've also heard some complaints about them (mind you they are a bank).
I think to get my mortgage refinanced or whatever the fuck that bank wank term is would stiff me more than I'd save.
My mate basically told the same bank (ASB) they better start treating him with a bit more respect or he would switch banks (he has a large mortgage and they have a fairly impressive household income). The financial advisor with the bank told him that he would lose a fair bit of money doing that. What a fucken ridiculous response. The correct response would be "sorry sir, what can we do for you?" So he replied that he would gladly lose money just to spite them.
Ah, the world we live in.
I think to get my mortgage refinanced or whatever the fuck that bank wank term is would stiff me more than I'd save.
My mate basically told the same bank (ASB) they better start treating him with a bit more respect or he would switch banks (he has a large mortgage and they have a fairly impressive household income). The financial advisor with the bank told him that he would lose a fair bit of money doing that. What a fucken ridiculous response. The correct response would be "sorry sir, what can we do for you?" So he replied that he would gladly lose money just to spite them.
Ah, the world we live in.
Oh yeah and that reminds me. A couple of years ago I had a similar thing Bennyasena. The bank erroneously took money out of my account which put me below $0 and they then slapped the $20 fee on me. FFS, cue angry emails from me to get an apology and refund.
Seriously, these fuckers have no idea. I'd love to have a figure on the amount that they have STOLEN (knowingly or otherwise) from their customers over the years.
And ONE MORE thing. I never used to be able to get an overdraft but they went and gave me the ability to be able to get one without even asking me if I wanted one.
You can block them if you want but then after a year it becomes available again and you have to tell them again you don't want to be able to get over drafts.
Seriously, there must be laws against this shit?!
Seriously, these fuckers have no idea. I'd love to have a figure on the amount that they have STOLEN (knowingly or otherwise) from their customers over the years.
And ONE MORE thing. I never used to be able to get an overdraft but they went and gave me the ability to be able to get one without even asking me if I wanted one.
You can block them if you want but then after a year it becomes available again and you have to tell them again you don't want to be able to get over drafts.
Seriously, there must be laws against this shit?!
I hardly know where to begin... Yamis, you'd like a figure? Banks started charging the Honour Fee (not to be confused with the Dishonour Fee)in late 2002. At that stage they were $20 kicks in the nuts. One large bank made an additional $1 million in revenue in the last month of that financial year by introducing the fee. So $1 million per month per bank is a starting figure for you.
Then the price increased in '03 or '04 to $25, so that could be $1250000 per bank per month, or $75,000,000 per annum in the banking industry (assume 5 big banks for ease's sake).
Seventy-five million extra dollars sucked out of the NZ economy each year by the banking industry in the last few years! Crime doesn't begin to describe the actions of banks, but this is a relatively tame action that the banks take. They can even justify the fees as behavioural, in that they change customers' banking behaviours and awareness for the better. Unfortunately the ones whose behaviours they don't change are the ones whose behaviours can't change 'cause they're too poor.
The poor are also real cash cows when it comes to Automatic Payments, but that's another blog.
Anyway, I reckon we should keep slamming the banks. Over and over, month after month, just like a loan repayment, which, for me at least, it would kinda be.
Then the price increased in '03 or '04 to $25, so that could be $1250000 per bank per month, or $75,000,000 per annum in the banking industry (assume 5 big banks for ease's sake).
Seventy-five million extra dollars sucked out of the NZ economy each year by the banking industry in the last few years! Crime doesn't begin to describe the actions of banks, but this is a relatively tame action that the banks take. They can even justify the fees as behavioural, in that they change customers' banking behaviours and awareness for the better. Unfortunately the ones whose behaviours they don't change are the ones whose behaviours can't change 'cause they're too poor.
The poor are also real cash cows when it comes to Automatic Payments, but that's another blog.
Anyway, I reckon we should keep slamming the banks. Over and over, month after month, just like a loan repayment, which, for me at least, it would kinda be.
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