Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Excessive bank charges

DBS Bank charged me $18 for processing a MEPS payment. The DBS staff explained that this is an electronic payment. She also said that the charge for a FAST payment is $5. If payment is made by GIRO, the fee is $0.20 for each transfer.

These are charges imposed on corporate accounts. Most people with personal accounts pay lower charges.

I asked the DBS staff - why was the customer not notified about the charges when they use the service? She said that these are posted in their website.

I also told the DBS staff that there are many modes of payments in their online website. I do not understand these different modes. I did not expect the charges to differ a lot. In my case, I made a payment of $44 to a supplier using the MEPS service and was charged an exorbitant a fee of $18.

I told her to give this feedback to the management - as the fees are so large, they should notify the customer at the time of using the service. They should not expect the customer to know the details and small print that were posted in their website.

She promised to do so. But I expect that nothing will happen.

My friend told me that if this happened in Austalia, a commission of inquiry will be set up to look into this matter. The commission will probably imposed a big fine on the bank. That is why the bank charges in Australia are at a more reasonable level.

Welcome to Singapore, friends. It is a place where ordinary people are "screwed up" daily by the government and big companies.

Tan Kin Lian








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