Recently while applying for a visa to Israel I had to submit a 3 months attested statement of accounts of a bank. So I fired the print from my net banking facility and took the print out to the private bank which is nearby with a hope that I can get back to office within 5 minutes. At the bank, I was asked to fill in a form and was told that it would cost me 59 rupees to get it attested. “Excuse me what for these charges are?” I inquired the bank executive across the counter, “by the way I have my salary account here”, thought I could get a waiver of the charges. “Sill you would be charged sir” she replied, “These charges are towards verification of your signature and for attestation”. 59 rupees just for verification and attestation?!! Since I was in a rush, I said, “OK then please debit my account accordingly”.
This triggered to me to think more about the bank charges. I had requested the bank executive to give me the list of all charges levied by the bank that includes duplicate statements, online transactions, ATM transactions, cash withdrawals, Chequebook requests, Deposits, Cheque bounce charges, over drafts, defaults or late payment on loans and credit cards, debit card fees etc. While handing over the list the woman across counter, told, “Sir since you a salary account majority of charges are not applicable to you”. I was surprised to see the charges. There is no rationale or justification to those charges. We can understand the transactions would incur a fee for the system maintenance, courier charges etc but these charges are nowhere near the actual costs that banks would normally incur. This is how the banks get revenue out of nothing.
In the absence of any regulatory body to oversee such things, banks are robbing their customers. The RBI, which is supposed to be the governing body of the banks though aware of such things never steps in to protect consumers interest. The finance ministry does not care. I am sure many people felt the same. May be it is time for the people to agitate or go to consumer courts against these excessive charges!
