President Obama has criticized the bad practices of the banks on deceptive practices and hidden fees. He faced an uphill battle to get the reforms to pass through the US Congress due to the strong lobby of the large banks. I hope that he will get the strong support of the American people.
Talking about hidden cost..did you know a lot of things are hidden from you by the insurers on wholelife and endowment and other par products?
ReplyDeleteEg. year by year return of the wholelife and endowment products. This information is VERY important and will influence your decision making, right? When Mr. Tan KL was ceo the BIs or par products carried this information, but not now. Obviously if this peice of info is given I bet many will not NOT buy par products like wholeife.
Cost(commission and other operating expenses) is inversely correlated to return.
Why then people are still being sold these products? The answer is PEOPLE ARE STUPID AND TRUSTING.The agents know and that is why they can continue to exploit them. The regulator knows but not doing anything until it explodes...like the minibond debacle. They keep saying and saying hoping that the insurers and their salesmen can hear but unfortunately they all pretend like deaf frogs.
So? the consumers have to act by banning themselves from buying ANYTHING from insurance agents.
Nowadays, whenever a financial advisor from bank or Insurance Company approaches me to sell something, I'll look him squarely in the eyes, then say "you are going to con me to buy some lousy product so that you could make a commission." Saves time, he'll walk off quickly, and leave me in peace to do my own thing.
ReplyDeleteTelcos and Credit Card co's are among the worst in this aspect!
ReplyDeleteAnother deceptive product is the early payout critical illness product. I am sure the insurers know that it is very hard to detect early stage cancers. Even doctors admitted that. Hospital statistics also shows a low probability.
ReplyDeleteIn short the insurers and the greeeeeedy agents try to con the public into buying. They prey on the fear and ignorance and stupidity of consumers , especially the women.
It is unethical.. There is a company that is also trying to prey on the fear using gory pictures of cancers like you find in the cigarette packs. The Advertising Authority should stop it. It is sad that people and companies are employing this approach to enrich themselves. Conscience is lost.Deception is acceptable.
My doctor friend said early payout illness product is a scam.
ReplyDeleteWhy no regulation on this and that
ReplyDeleteBecause as Ive mentioned somewhere before they are all the Familee Royales Ca$h Cow$
Telcos -> SingTel etc.
Credit Card Cos -> Banks are all snug and cozy with the Familee Royale
Insurance -> NTUC Income (With "NTUC" as prefix need I say more)
More regulation = More fairness for consumers = Less unfair profits
They wont let anything jeopardise the ca$h flow from the cows
They will try to justify their inactions with excuses "let free market decide" "you went in with your eyes open" or in the case of unacceptable advertising "artistic freedom"