Those hidden bank fees

After all, I often tell myself, the keepers of my hard-earned cash should be accountable to me. In fact, I have developed the near neurotic habit of scrutinising my bank statements with diligent thoroughness, because so often there are hidden fees and even errors.

Take for example the transaction from one local bank to the other, which, as I have discovered, can net considerable profits to my bank. Did you also know that there is something called a “repair fee” which may be levied if there is an error in writing down the correct account number, even if that mistake was made by the bank teller? And that in a simple local cross-bank transfer a bank may claim a commission? And the customer has virtually no comeback? And of course, there are all those charges each time a customer uses a debit card. It is after all my money. Given that virtually all salaries are now paid through banks the customer is literally held up to ransom.

Are banks accountable? I see signs in Trinidad and Tobago of the very problems that led to the collapse of the economy in Ireland in 2008. Banks were allowed to profit as they wished.

Then came the crash. At that moment the Irish government was forced to bail out the banks and citizens are still footing the bill for this. Of course given the liquidity of banks in T&T here seems little possibility that the banks in Trinidad will ever need to be bailed out.

But this desire for profit against the odds even in times of recession is pretty much endemic.

There is a need to make money that dispenses with any idea of the rights of the customer or even fair play, even as the economy of the country remains uncertain.

And no one says a word.

The customer in Trinidad has few, if any rights. We still submit to the indignities of vigilant security guards who demand that we show a receipt for any large item including bottled water as we leave the cash desk, having visibly paid for our goods. And most of us say nothing.

We still continue to purchase items of clothing and household goods, knowing that we cannot return them and have our money refunded, even though this runs counter to all existing practice elsewhere in the world. Most establishments in Trinidad will quite openly tell their customers that there is no possibility of returning the item and getting their money back, and this is accepted.

The level of citizen awareness and knowledge of consumer rights is so low that we submit to every indignity.

Now that the economy is fragile and businesses are beginning to close and strikes that may cripple the economy loom, is there a possibility that we will become more vigilant? After all, the days of abundance seem to have ended.

We might well have to start counting pennies and may have to return to that ole time when we helped each other out.

It all boils down to something called social responsibility. That is an ideal that needs to be shared by institutions as well as by individuals.

Social responsibility could mean putting back some of those profits into the community in truly human ways. For example by initiating and funding an employment programme within the banking institutions themselves, for persons with disabilities.