Banks charge for every service they provide under the ‘free-service’ banner leaving the onus on customers to keep themselves informed says Gyanendra K

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Read your bank statement carefully (incase you haven’t for the last couple of months–thanks to the chaos in the financial market), and you could find yourself worthy of few surprises. And all of a sudden you will realise that the big statements such as, “Highly competitive interest rates with flexible tenors and no hidden costs...” popping on the silver screen everyday have very easily deceived you.

For a decade now the banks have been free to levy their own charges and this has thrown up a host of hidden costs which many of us are not aware of till date. If you discuss with Mr. Raghavan, (a well-paid marketing manager who never laid an eye on his bank statements earlier) you would get to know your own folly in case you happen to be one who does not believe in regular updates. “Air-conditioned expanse, well lit ambience, blurring dubious and highly questionable work practices designed to hoodwink trusting customers and unsuspecting loan seekers,” that’s how he, in his sanity, describes banks today. Well, you may not necessarily agree with his views, but nevertheless his views are not entirely unfounded.

If you have not been aware of the various charges – which could range between Rs.25 to Rs.1,000 – levied by banks, then in all probability your dear banker (entrusted with your trust and banking on trust of millions of customers like you) must have burnt a hole in your pocket by now. Things can’t get worse especially in times of financial uncertainty, downsizing, cost-cutting and when you want to cut on those extravaganzas. Picture this: Axis Bank increased the charges for not maintaining minimum balances to Rs.500 from Rs.200 without informing its customers in a proper manner. Anil Paul, former professor of Economics, Darjeeling Government College (who maintains multiple accounts), alleges that the bank (Axis Bank) without any prior information increased the levy on non-maintenance of minimum balance. So, his valuable piece of advice to all multiple account holders is, maintain the minimum balance at any cost and earn 3.5% yearly interest on the same, rather than paying the penalty along with added transaction charges (as levied in some cases) for non-maintenance of minimum balance.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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