Why do banks harass their customers? – Letter
View(s):Can someone answer the following questions for me? Being a Power of Attorney to a few of my family members operating their accounts in different banks the harassment I go through in these banks to operate their accounts is immense. Aren’t all the banks governed by one set of rules and regulations laid down by the Central Bank?
1. For single transactions a customer needs to fill so many documents at a bank. Eg. A fixed deposit, a mandate, KFC, Utility bill to confirm the address, nominee form, etc. When the same deposit is transferred or invested in a different scheme once again all these documents needs to be submitted and signed. When the funds are already in the bank and transferred to another deposit scheme can somebody explain why the customer needs to fill the KFC form once again?
1.1 When you visit the bank to do another transaction despite filling so many forms all of a sudden the bank realises the mandate missing or the auditors have done a check and found the mandate has gone missing. You once again have to complete all the missing documents prior to your new transaction. Obviously when there are so many forms attached and if the staff members are not meticulous the forms will get misplaced.
1.2 One of my family members lost all his originals documents lodged with the bank for the mortgage on his house. Isn’t this scary?
2. When a Power of Attorney is certified by the lawyer and lodged with the bank by the customer, the bank requests the Power of Attorney to obtain another copy of the Power of attorney. Get it attested by a lawyer to certify the validity of the Power of attorney to collect the Customers ATM card from the bank. If the customer has revoked the power of attorney won’t it be the customer’s priority to inform the bank of same. Isn’t the bank trying to evade their responsibility by getting it signed by the lawyer?
3. Although the customer has funds in the account can the bank debit the customer account without informing the customer?
4. Each bank applies different amounts for their charges. Some banks even charge for an e-Banking facility when they should be happy that the customer does not visit the bank and tax their staff!
Harassed customer
Colombo.