Banks Are Killing Customers

IT is very sad to see our local banks charging their clients such astronomical charges, which they cannot term justifiable.

We, as bank customers, need to rally behind the Parliament Standing Committee that was investigating the rates that are currently charged by local Banks. I know that South Africa’s economy has a spill-over effect on Namibia, but it is important that our local banks, even though they are directly influenced by South Africa, charge their customers according to our economy.I have been a loyal FNB customer for longer than 10 years but for every bank transaction that I do, be it just getting my bank statement from an ATM or depositing money into my account, I am charged.Let alone being charged for withdrawing what I deposited.It’s time that we as bank customers stand up and show them that we are not happy with what we are getting.As the saying in Otjiherero goes: “Omuatje ngua hariri utira kotjivereko” which literally means that “a baby who does not cry, can easily die while on her mother’s back” and this is exactly what is happening here in Namibia.It’s sad to see our hard-earned cash going down the drain just because of the so called “justifiable bank charges” and the illiterate are further fooled into opening all these highly publicised accounts that include funeral cover and what have you.Even if you have to pay by swiping your card you are still charged.Writing a cheque and obtaining a cheque book – you are charged for that too.And the elite who can read, write and speak sophisticated English are called in to fix their charges on their accounts – what about the poor on the street who have to send their children to do their transactions? Some people open savings accounts, hoping to earn interests from them, but what they don’t know is that they are charged higher service fees than the interest they earn on the account.Others open an investment account but when you really want to access that money they make you wait because you have agreed to give the bank a certain number of days’ notification before withdrawing the money.And when the money finally comes, you are robbed of what you are supposed to earn on such account as interest because the withdrawal charge is much higher than what you get as interest.Imagine the following scenario.It takes you 20 years to pay off your bond of around N$270 000 to finance your home.You will be paying around N$3 300 x 12 months = N$ 39 600 x 20 years = N$792 000.Now see for yourself how much bank interest you have paid on your home loan – over N$522 000.This is triple the amount that you bought the house for.I am aware that the house’s value does not depreciate as a car’s does and that a house is an asset and an investment that any person wants to have.What is the role of the Consumer Federation or whatever it is called if it does not represent the interests and wishes of consumers? And on whose behalf and what do they lobby for And when the idea of paying every Namibian a monthly social grant of just a mere N$100 irrespective of their employment status was proposed by the Coalition on Social Grant (CSG) headed by Bishop Kameeta, our very own Government did not buy such a noble approach.Money that is supposed to be pumped into the wellbeing of Namibians is squandered left, right and centre.Commissions of Inquiry were instituted and yet no action has been taken.Yet we are crying about unemployment, corruption and poverty.I am getting frustrated with having to see so many charges, like levy and deposit charges going off my account.Are we saving our hard-earned cash just to enrich the banks or what? I am aware some banks are really fulfilling their social responsibility but we are not stupid, because we know that these monies are generated through what we are charged.I have not heard of any bank that has ever announced a decrease in bank charges.It is not difficult for us as Namibians to stand up and form a Namibian Bank Customers’ Federation that will represent our wishes and aspirations, just like the banks have their own Federation or Association.Namibians have a tendency to wait and see what happens, but this is extremely dangerous.Enough is enough and let’s all say “down with exploitation”.Anti-banks Via e-mailI know that South Africa’s economy has a spill-over effect on Namibia, but it is important that our local banks, even though they are directly influenced by South Africa, charge their customers according to our economy.I have been a loyal FNB customer for longer than 10 years but for every bank transaction that I do, be it just getting my bank statement from an ATM or depositing money into my account, I am charged.Let alone being charged for withdrawing what I deposited.It’s time that we as bank customers stand up and show them that we are not happy with what we are getting.As the saying in Otjiherero goes: “Omuatje ngua hariri utira kotjivereko” which literally means that “a baby who does not cry, can easily die while on her mother’s back” and this is exactly what is happening here in Namibia.It’s sad to see our hard-earned cash going down the drain just because of the so called “justifiable bank charges” and the illiterate are further fooled into opening all these highly publicised accounts that include funeral cover and what have you.Even if you have to pay by swiping your card you are still charged.Writing a cheque and obtaining a cheque book – you are charged for that too.And the elite who can read, write and speak sophisticated English are called in to fix their charges on their accounts – what about the poor on the street who have to send their children to do their transactions? Some people open savings accounts, hoping to earn interests from them, but what they don’t know is that they are charged higher service fees than the interest they earn on the account.Others open an investment account but when you really want to access that money they make you wait because you have agreed to give the bank a certain number of days’ notification before withdrawing the money.And when the money finally comes, you are robbed of what you are supposed to earn on such account as interest because the withdrawal charge is much higher than what you get as interest.Imagine the following scenario.It takes you 20 years to pay off your bond of around N$270 000 to finance your home.You will be paying around N$3 300 x 12 months = N$ 39 600 x 20 years = N$792 000.Now see for yourself how much bank interest you have paid on your home loan – over N$522 000.This is triple the amount that you bought the house for.I am aware that the house’s value does not depreciate as a car’s does and that a house is an asset and an investment that any person wants to have.What is the role of the Consumer Federation or whatever it is called if it does not represent the interests and wishes of consumers? And on whose behalf and what do they lobby for And when the idea of paying every Namibian a monthly social grant of just a mere N$100 irrespective of their employment status was proposed by the Coalition on Social Grant (CSG) headed by Bishop Kameeta, our very own Government did not buy such a noble approach.Money that is supposed to be pumped into the wellbeing of Namibians is squandered left, right and centre.Commissions of Inquiry were instituted and yet no action has been taken.Yet we are crying about unemployment, corruption and poverty.I am getting frustrated with having to see so many charges, like levy and deposit charges going off my account.Are we saving our hard-earned cash just to enrich the banks or what? I am aware some banks are really fulfilling their social responsibility but we are not stupid, because we know that these monies are generated through what we are charged.I have not heard of any bank that has ever announced a decrease in bank charges.It is not difficult for us as Namibians to stand up and form a Namibian Bank Customers’ Federation that will represent our wishes and aspirations, just like the banks have their own Federation or Association.Namibians have a tendency to wait and see what happens, but this is extremely dangerous.Enough is enough
and let’s all say “down with exploitation”.Anti-banks Via e-mail