Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Close Account Charges?!?

When you open a savings account with a banking institution, you are actually giving them money to do business. Without your money, they are not able to offer loans to loan applicants and that's their core business - lending money. As such, not only are you the customer, you are also the boss, unless of course if you are taking a loan from them then you are the customer but you can't be considered their boss. In return for your savings that enabled them to run their business, they offer you interest calculated on the amount you have 'invested' in them.

I've always hated Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN). They offer sub-standard services although they offer slightly higher interest compared to other banking institutions and the Government guarantees your savings but this is no longer relevant as every account is assured up to RM60,000 after the recent ruling by Bank Negara Malaysia. I've always had problems when dealing with BSN and I've been dealing with most if not all the banks available in Malaysia. BSN is one of the worst if not the worst!

What I do not understand is why you are being charged if you close your account with them. Since I don't need a BSN account anymore, I decided to finally close the account. Actually I've wanted to close it a few years back but was scared off by the RM5 administration charge for closing the account. It's like a goodbye 'gift' to say "thank you very much for letting us f**k you". Worse still, they didn't even pay me interest for the whole of last year!!! If you have been offering excellent service all these while, I might even close one eye on the administration charges but how can you charge someone for doing nothing? That's totally absurb!

Whatever transactions you want to do at BSN (especially at it's main branch) is a real hassle. You have to wait next to forever before you are served at the counter. When I wanted to open this bank account, I spent the whole day with them! This time it was not that long but still I could walk quite a distance to another bank (which is well-known for having the largest customer base but still able to serve its customers promptly) and run through my transactions with them, walk back and still had time to wait for my turn at the BSN counter. The employees are not helpful either. All I needed was a pen to fill up the withdrawal form when I was at the counter but he declined to lend me one and instead ask me to go all the way to the back to fill up the form. What kind of service is this? They know they have so many customers waiting (over 40) and they only opened up TWO counters?!? What's wrong with them?

People close their accounts for various reasons and nothing will justify punishing them with the RM5 administration charge. This is daylight robbery indeed. Bank Negara, you want to find a bone to pick with banks that charge unscrouplous service and administration fees? Look no further.




2 comments:

  1. Actually I didn't know about they charging for closing of savings account but I wouldn't agree with you more. They should not be charging for closing unless the account is opened for less than a year or non-active for 5 years.

    Still, I will further check this with the officer as I too have an account with them. If they do charge .. well fuck them .. I will close my account and bring my money to another bank.

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  2. exactly! and my account is not dormant and i've had that account for more than a few years now...

    that's why i decided to take out my money and put it in another bank which treasures its customers more...

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