Why banks don’t sleep

Avariciousness, greed, unhindered lust for money. money at any cost – if any of these sound similar then you are probably reading the case about the ANZ Bank case regarding overcharging credit card accounts.

Here is how it goes. The bank issues you a card. You link the card to a savings account. And there is an automatic debit that happens on your savings account on the day of your card due. The credit card system invokes the auto debit functionality. And on that day the savings account is not adequately funded. Therefore the request is returned.

And the bank charges you the following :

1. Penalty for Insufficient balance in your savings account.
2. Penalty for standing instruction dishonour in your savings account.
3. Late payment charges for your card.
4. Interest charges for your card.

And you pay for four cases when you could have paid the due directly in the bank branch for your card.

The courts have found that this multiple charging practice to be unethical and illegal and have fined the bank USD 220Mn.

There are other banks who are waiting to be hauled over this credit card fee issue.

And did I hear somebody mention ‘ethical business practice’, ‘compliance’, ‘value the customer’ etc.

Now the others who don’t sleep, who are here for good and the world’s local banks are spending sleepless nights.

You reap as you sow, right ?