Current mood:

accomplished

Quin vs. Suncorp-Metway
I recently read the product disclosure statements for my bank account with Suncorp-Metway, and it came to my attention that those who have a government benefit paid into their account were entitled to have the account keeping fee waived.

Government Benefits Waiver

Conditions:
Applies to customers whose government benefit will be paid into their Everyday Options account. Waiver applies to one only Everyday Options account (excluding Unlimited Suncorp Transaction Plan and accounts with cheque access).

To be eligible for this waiver you must present one of the following at a Suncorp branch: a current pensioner card, Commonwealth Government health card or a repatriation card (issued by Veteran's Affairs). Waiver only applies to one Everyday Options account per eligible persion. If two people are eligible, they can share two joint Everyday Options accounts with this waiver. An eligible customer is entitled to share a joint Everyday Options account with this waiver with an ineligible customer.

Fees waived:
Account keeping fee.

The above is directly from their "Lending Fees and Charges" which is apart of their product disclosure statement, and came into effect on September 30th 2003. As you can imagine, I was eager to look into this further. The account keeping fee may seem small, a mere AU$4.50, but this is a monthly charge, which quickly adds up over the years.

I called them, interested to see if I could get my money back, the customer service officer advised me I'd need to call back the next day, as the branches were shut, and I would have to speak to them directly to get the fees refunded, so I waited for a new morrow.

The next day, I called the bank again, I asked to talk to my branch, but ended up having to go through the same default crap again where the officer tried to fix it on their own, failing miserably, even though I knew what I had to do and had requested it to begin with. Finally, I was in contact with my local branch where I opened the account six years ago. The woman on the other end poked around my account and informed me that the Manager would have to deal with it, as it was out of her hands, I had them put the waiver into effect from that day onward and waited, and waited. After not getting a reply that day we finally went shopping, etc. That night, I stayed up to 3am reading legal documents and the likes to get a clue on what my rights were, as I always do when I'm on a quest. Knowledge is the most powerful substance one can hold.

It wasn't until 9am this morning I was awoken by my mother, the Manager had called me back. In her most authoritarian tone she informed me that she would only refund the amount charged since my last statement, which was issued in January, a meager AU$13.50. The reason given was that I should read the things sent to me, and they can only put such a thing into effect from the time when I ask for it, despite my ability to prove that it had been valid the entire time. I expressed my disappointment that they were being so unfair about something that could be proven beyond a doubt, it started to become more a matter of principle than the amount of money. Banks, as everyone should be well aware, are notorious for trying to get as much money as possible, but come on, I make very little money on government benefits, the amount of money is quite considerable to us on such a low income.

Steaming for a while, I did some other chores until I couldn't bear the insanity I was causing myself and those around me. I called Suncorp-Metway Customer Relations to lodge a complaint, the lady on the other end was very courteous and concise. She offered to talk to the branch on my behalf, and hoped to contact me by the end of the day, or the next morning at the very latest. This is where I was most impressed.

A mere few hours later, I was presented with the phone again, the woman I spoke to at Customer Relations informed me that they would now refund the entire amount accumulated since the clause was put into effect. Success! I was most pleased, but she sounded a bit put-off, she informed me that it wouldn't be directly credited to my account immediately, they will be sending me a letter in the snail-mail, aparrently stating the full refund amount, and that I have to sign something.

If it's a confidentiality agreement, I'll be already violating it right now, but I'm not interested in it if that's the case. More people should know that the banks are doing this to people everyday, and unless you read the extremely fine print obscured under the mess of jargon, you probably don't know that these fees can be waived for us extremely-low-income earners. It also shows that even when you do try to stand up for your rights, they'll try to push you around with what to them must seem like a compromise, when really it's just plain money-grubbing.

Cheers!