tcmjourney

Nov. 19th, 2009

02:50 pm - How Banking Sucks (Pt 2)

Well.

I have just spent two hours on the phone, trying to work out whether or not my complaint against "the bank" is actually legal.

I have spoken to Consumer Law, who put me on to the Ombudsman, who put me on to ASIC, who put me on to the ACCC - who don't even deal with banks.

Thus far NOBODY is able to give me an accurate representation of the bank's (or my own) liability in this instance. There are NO laws governing banks' ability to charge a fee that's been incurred because of a fee.

My assessment of the story goes like this:

An account holder does not have up-to-date and accurate information about the contents of the account because a)(the bank says:) "it's just how our internet banking system works" - meaning that they don't have to disclose anything to you if they have a 3 to 28 day buffer to put the details on the internet banking statement; and b)(i have discovered, over the last two hours) the legislation which manages banking and finance was written in 1966 and thus far has no ammendments to account for today's technology (the legislation gives the bank 30 days to disclose account statements), where information such as this is freely available from most other banks' internet banking systems.

An amendment to the Banking and Finance Act that takes current technology into account should stipulate that the bank disclose each transaction *as it occurs*, and the resulting bank balance.

This is the way that I can see that it works (or doesn't):

Because the account holder doesn't have accurate up-to-date information, which by rights should be disclosed to them by the bank, they don't know how much is (or isn't) in the account. Payments go out and the consumer thinks it's fine because the last time they looked at their balance it was in credit. The inaccurate balance results in the account becoming overdrawn, with one monthly overdraft fee being charged at the end of the statement period. If the consumer whom, because of the inaccurate balance displayed, has no idea they have become overdrawn, does not have enough money in the account to allow for the overdraft fee the account, once again, descends into overdraft status. This results in an overdraft fee being charged at the end of every month. $35 a month equates to $420 over a 12 month period. This targets the low income earner and people who do not have enough money to have a standing balance of $50 or more in their bank accounts. It's unfair, and it bullies poor people.

This particular bank has also sent information to its customers stating that it's "reducing" bank fees. Once again these rules favour the more lucrative aspects of the population.
As of December, the bank will no longer charge $35 at the end of the monthly statement period.
They will instead be charging $6 PER DAY for every day of overdraft, on each day the overdraft takes place.

If you are a low-income worker who gets paid monthly and has an enormous bill to pay, accidentally overdrawing you or, and let's not forget this one, you get overdrawn because you were given AN INACCURATE BALANCE by THE BANK WHO IS CHARGING YOU THESE FEES, the maximum amount you could possibly be charged for accidentally going overdrawn on your normal bank account (which should not even allow an overdraft to start with because it's a normal account, not an overdraft one) comes to a total of $180. Lots more than $35, innit?

This type of practice is exploiting the people who don't have the money to *be* exploited. This type of practice is explointing low-income working families.

This is completely unfair and should not be allowed to continue.

What can I do to stop it?

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11:28 am - How Banking Sucks (Pt 1)

Hi, Don't know if there will be a Pt 2, but I imagine there will be one day, maybe even when I close the account I'm just about to talk about.

The first thing I would like to make you aware of is that "the bank"'s internet banking service is organized in such a way that it is impossible to tell what your bank balance is at any given time because transactions are not listed until they have been processed completely which, according to telephone staff, “can take up to twenty-eight days”.

Last month (ending 17/10/09) I was charged an overdrawn fee of $35 for going over my available balance. During the month I had been overdrawn.
As a result of the overdraft fee that I was charged, I began the month with a balance of
-$11.76. I might also add that because of "the bank"'s internet banking system, I was unaware that I had been overdrawn because when I checked my balance my account appeared to be in credit.

During this “monthly statement period”, ending 17/11/09 I had been extremely careful to keep track of the amounts of money going into and coming out of my account. At no time during the month, apart from the beginning of the statement period when I was overdrawn as a result of overdraft fees, did I go overdrawn.

At the end of the statement period just mentioned, I was charged a $35 overdrawn fee for an overdraft incurred as a result of fees. Card services agreed to reverse the fee, as I had never had the fee reversed before.

This month I intend to close my account with this bank because I don’t like the way they charge fees on fees, and think it is unfair, exploitative to the not-so-wealthy, and also dishonest.

During my conversation with “Fred” in Card Services today, I asked him if, although the overdrawn fee for last “monthly statement period” had been a) responsible for me going into overdraft for this statement period; and b) reversed because it was incorrectly applied, I would be charged an overdrawn fee for the current “monthly statement period”. He replied that I probably would.

This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

First, I get overdrawn, so they charge me a fee at the end of the month. That’s fine, but at the end of the month there’s not enough money in the account to cover the overdraft fee, so the account goes into overdraft. So that’s a fee on a debt incurred by a fee. Then, "the bank" re-credit the account with the $35 because they admit that that’s happened. During the period between the fee being charged and recredited, the account is overdrawn BECAUSE OF THE FEE, causing a subsequent fee to be charged at the end of the current “monthly statement period”. So that’s:

A fee
On a fee
On a fee.

Had I actually had accurate information available to me to see how much money my account contained this problem would not have occurred. Had "the bank" said “Declined” when the account had no money in it, like countless other banks seem to be capable of doing, this problem could not have occurred.

If they try to charge me a $35 fee on a fee they have reversed because it was a fee on a fee, I will most definetely be taking it to the Ombudsman.

Tags: anz, banking, dishonesty in financial institutions, overcharging

Current Mood:

infuriated

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Nov. 4th, 2009

09:46 am - Kill Me Eventually

This is an old story I found from years ago when I was forced by Centrelink to do an office skills course - back when I was living in Brisbane.

Kill Me Eventually...

Alfred glared in the direction of the parlour window.

He felt a chill breeze, anticipating the creature's entry and preparing for the worst. A cold, sharp knife rested with its hilt in his right hand, while the wind cressed its way through the white, billowy curtains, creating an eerie effect in the room.

"Right!" thought Alfred. "I really need this, don't I? I'm waiting for the revolting, foul creature from Hell that's probably going to Kill Me Eventually to crawl in these windows and all I get is a bloody eerie effect. Great!"

Alfred continued to complain for several minutes, all the while continually alert and a ware of the huge French windows (which, incidentally, were not even closed, but we all know how stupid characters in stories like this are, don't we?), and the immanent approach of The Ugly Thing.

Cynthia let forth a blood-curdling scream in utter terror of whatever it was that she just saw but *we* aren't allowed to yet because it would completely ruin the already shoddy plotline, but anyway... Her voice carried through the house to the room where Alfred was awaiting the creature's wrath. He started. He rushed toward the wing of the old building where Cynthia's chambers were, and stumbled up the short staircase.

"Damn!" he cursed. Not much time left... (About 30 seconds, in fact, but have you ever noticed in the movies how things that are supposed to take 30 seconds actually end up taking about 8 minutes?)

He picked himself up until he could almost stand, but the wound he had sustained earlier from the Vile Creature's foul talons was gaping, dripping blood upon the cold, hard stone floor. He tore his shirt open and dug the great look it gave him - rugged, rough and mean. "I'm in with this one!" he thought, and pulled himself up by the bannister. Anything for a piece.

Cynthia screamed once again and Alfred called out to her, "I'm coming, my love!"
"Shut up, you idiot!", she screamed.
"Why?", he shouted in reply, perplexed.
"Because the Revolting Yucky Thing will know where you are, stupid!", she yelled.
"Cynthia?", shouted Alfred.
"Yes, Alfred?", shouted Cynthia, over the roars of the Grotesque Abomination's growling breaths...
"I don't suppose you.. er... *fancy* a bit, do you?"
"Oh, I suppose I *might* manage to lower myself to going out with you," she shouted... "But only one date!!!"

Cynthia's voice was suddenly drowned out by a gale forced wind sweeping through the hallway, pushing Alfred closer to the door to Cynthia's room. The closer he got to the doorway, the worse the stench of the Evil Thing got. He scrambled about for a weapon. Blast! He had dropped the knife he had been carrying for protection. He looked around the hall and discovered a torch resting in its sconce so he grabbed that and waved it menacingly. Didn't look terribly menacing, since Alfred was a weedy, geeky type.. Made it rather hard for him to look menacing at all.
He shrugged and moved closer to Cynthia's room. Slime from the Horrid Creature's tail and fragments of its hideous, scaly back littered the hall. Alfred vomited.

"Mmmm... Breakfast," said Cynthia, with an evil tone.

Alfred looked up from his disgusting puddle of puke into the doorway for the first time and saw Cynthia astride the Despicable Monster, sporting a fabulous chain mail bikini. Alfred got a boner, which rapidly disappeared when he realised just exactly what was going on. Paralysis gripped him as he stared at the rancid green teeth jutting out from the Bad Thing's beak. Then he yelped, whimpered and shuddered as the same beak descended upon his fragile body and bit him in two, blood spattering and guts flapping in the wind. In one last, futile attempt at salvation, he reached toward Cynthia with both hands outstretched and said:

"But what about our date?"

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Jul. 1st, 2009

02:25 pm - For want of something better

I shall post the recipe for what I had for lunch.

Penne with Mushrooms, Coriander and Pine Nuts in White wine sauce.

300g Penne pasta
4 button mushrooms, sliced
30g Pine nuts
100ml white wine
3tb olive oil
1 handful of Coriander, chopped
(can substitute Basil if you like, but I had heaps of coriander so that was the go for me)
1tb grated parmesan cheese
1 large clove of garlic, smashed, minced or chopped finely
Pepper and salt to taste

Boil 4c water in a pot, add salt and 1tb olive oil. When water is boiling vigourously, add penne and cook for the amount of time the packet says (i say this because some packet pasta needs to be cooked for longer than others). The only real way to tell if penne is All Denty is to eat one and see if your teeth go straight through. If there is any crunch or chewiness left, keep cooking.

When pasta is cooked, drain in colander and leave the gas on. Take the pot off though, or it will overheat and burn the oil and garlic. When pot has cooled somewhat, add remaining olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic. Leave only for about 20 seconds and add the mushrooms. Toss mushrooms for about 1 minute and add white wine. Allow wine to reduce and alcohol to evaporate. Add pine nuts and pasta, stir through. When combined remove from heat, add parmesan and coriander, stir and serve.

YUM.

Serves 1 person.