How Silly Bank Charges...

What I posted in Lim Kit Siang's blogsite:-

K S Ong Says: March 8th, 2007 at 12:31 am
It is a strange coincidence that I was about to write about How Silly Bank Charges, in connection with HSBC Mastercard and Visa credit cards.

My son went over to UK to look for a job. He did not cancel his credit cards with HSBC and Standard Chartered. The latter account was left with a few ringgit in credit which did not pose any problem.

When I received the HSBC card statements with small balances and knowing the bank charges a minimum of Rm5.00, I had actually called up their call centre to confirm what would be the following month’s charges so that my cheque would be in time as well as sufficient to cover any outstanding amounts.

My son came back on holiday and went to the bank to cancel the cards and I was furious when he showed me the following details:-
Mastercard /Visa
Credit used as of last payment 12.51/11.38
Payment – thank you 10.95/11.34Cr
Late payment charge 5.00/ 5.00
Total credit used 6.56/ 5.04
Your statement balance 6.56/ 5.04

Because of the initial outstanding 1.56 and 0.04, by the time he settled, he was slapped with another 5.00 late payment charge each which totalled 11.56 and 10.04 respectively.

In the first place, it was futile of my initial effort to call up and make payments thinking it would settle the accounts, leaving only the formality of his cancellation of the cards.

Secondly, it showed the inflexibility of using computers and the inability of human intervention in the form of using discretion which in the good old days, a bank officer or manager could effect to maintain goodwill.

K S Ong Says: March 9th, 2007 at 12:01 pm

Sorry to bore readers with story on pennies instead of big bucks.
I am continuing with the saga of HSBC credit cards. My son just received his statement and to his horror, there were still balances of 0.04 and 0.01 outstanding in his Mastercard and Visa respectively.

Just imagine, having personally visited the office to sign cancellation docs and paid outstanding amounts on Feb 27 could not effect it, what else is required?

I bet HSBC’s computer is programmed to leave behind balances so that they can continue with their senseless late payment charges.

What happen to the humans in charge in the silly bank?

I am glad he is still around to give them a piece of his mind.

I was told he was kept waiting for half an hour and they finally agreed that he should pay the 5 sen to settle it.

Imagine the waste of time, petrol and parking charges over a such an insignificant amount. Whatever goodwill the bank enjoyed in the past was gone forever.