Monday, March 1, 2010

Hefty bank charges

Vincent Chan wrote to the Straits Times to complain about a hefty charge of $12 to pay for a budget air ticket of $50, using his credit card. I paid a bank charge of $75 to transfer $2,500 to a factory in China. My bank told me that if I pay late on my credit card, there is a fee of $50 in addition to the interest of 2% per month on the rollover.

It seems that the banks have gone overboard in levying exorbitant charges for essential banking services. The authority (MAS) sits on the side and allow them to charge what they like. The banks are able to make billions of dollars of profits from the interest spread and hefty charges. Are bank customers being fleeced?

Tan Kin Lian