United you can fight unfair bank charges

There is a growing awareness by customers worldwide who are dissatisfied with the lack of transparency by banks with regard to bank charges and fees.

The headline for an article by Sam Dunn in The Daily Mail in September 2014, reads, “Victory over bank charges could open payout floodgates: Court backs customer over hefty overdraft fees.” The article highlights a long-standing customer of Lloyds Bank who won a landmark court victory over unfair overdraft charges which were crippling his account.

This quote from an article by Rachel Reeves in The Times in April 2017, headed “Unfair bank charges are putting our economy at risk,” sums it up: “It’s high time that the banks were also forced to end these greedy practices and stop ripping off millions of customers.” Bankers seem to share the view that charges and fees imposed on customers can be done at their whim and fancy and they should not be called on to provide an explanation. Their charges come at you left, right and centre with the most ridiculous being the monthly fee deducted from a dwindling account, then a fee to withdraw from that account, and a fee to use your debit card. How does that encourage saving? Not to mention all the red tape and trail of documents requested from you to open a new account.

Then, if you require a loan some time later, you go through the entire process again as though they have no records, only this time they ensure that your last relative must pay off your loan if, God forbids, you drop dead from working too hard to pay it.

There is also their practice that a person must be permanently employed for at least a year before being considered for a loan.

Has it occurred to them that someone can be permanently employed at the same company for as much as nine years and subsequently lose their job, so it makes more sense to consider how long that person has been consistently employed? It’s high time that customers realise the great power they have in exercising their right to choose, their right to withhold their services and their right to speak up when they are wronged. After all, banks are in the business of making money by either keeping or lending your money and then charging you exorbitant fees to do so.

However, your greatest power is in your numbers when you stand united, and it wouldn’t take very long for bankers to see that the only reason they can continue as a business is because of you.

VASHTI BOWLAH via email