I ACTUALLY AGREE WITH LAYTON... FOR ONCE
nb: I will still never EVER vote NDP given their current platform.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070125.wlaytonbank0125/BNStory/National/home
So, Capt'n Jack wants the poor Canadian banking industry to remove the user fees from ATMs and other such banking services. So the banks claim that they can't do this because it would lose them lots of money and they'd be forced into penury (they made approximately 19 billion dollars in profits [ie. above expenses and salaries] last year).
While no one likes to be hit with fees the banks often do have compelling arguments to support their fees, it helps pay for the upkeep of the machines, pays for advances in security, and generally helps the banks remain internationally competitive where 19billion in profit isn't much comparted to 1 citibank or HSBC.
All this said, THEY MADE 19 BILLION IN PROFITS LAST YEAR. A certain percentage of that revenue should automatically be directed to improving services, security and upkeep of existing infrastructure and even, wild idea that it is, expanding it to make life easier for people.
As for being competitive most of our banks gain or lose re. competitiveness through their investments overseas and their expansion into other markets such as Scotia into the caribbean and south america and CIBC world markets etc.
Lastly to drive the point home that these fees are absolutely unncessecary I will now retell a story from my 1st day in england when setting up my bank account:
Bank Employee (BE): And here is your bank card, you can use it as a debit card at switch (like interac) locations and to withdraw money.
Me: And what are the fees?
BE: What do you mean?
Me: the fees to use the card. When I go to a withdraw money how much will it be, 1 pound 2 pounds etc?
BE: um there are no fees?
Me: [looking awestruck and with the face of a 19th century provincial rube] no... feees?
Be: no, I'm not sure why we would need to charge a fee, the withdrawal machines are there for your conviniences. In fact a few years agot most of the UK banks suggested imposing a fee on all machines but the outcry from the public and the government was so strong it wasn't worth our while financially or politically.
Me: Wow... this is truly the promised land of Banking
BE: giggles
Me: Ok so how much is the fee for me to use this card at banking locations that are not affilated with this bank?
Be: There are no fees to use the machines of other banks either.. that was part of the deal. Either we'd all charge fees or we all would make it free to use
Me: foaming at the mouth with extasy.... promised land of banking.
If the brits can do it we can folks. Government outrage and public outrage was all it took. Come on Canada rouse yourself from your cold mid-winters, apathetic sleep. Get outraged for once... in fact we should all get outraged a lot more often.
Cheers,
P
nb: I will still never EVER vote NDP given their current platform.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070125.wlaytonbank0125/BNStory/National/home
So, Capt'n Jack wants the poor Canadian banking industry to remove the user fees from ATMs and other such banking services. So the banks claim that they can't do this because it would lose them lots of money and they'd be forced into penury (they made approximately 19 billion dollars in profits [ie. above expenses and salaries] last year).
While no one likes to be hit with fees the banks often do have compelling arguments to support their fees, it helps pay for the upkeep of the machines, pays for advances in security, and generally helps the banks remain internationally competitive where 19billion in profit isn't much comparted to 1 citibank or HSBC.
All this said, THEY MADE 19 BILLION IN PROFITS LAST YEAR. A certain percentage of that revenue should automatically be directed to improving services, security and upkeep of existing infrastructure and even, wild idea that it is, expanding it to make life easier for people.
As for being competitive most of our banks gain or lose re. competitiveness through their investments overseas and their expansion into other markets such as Scotia into the caribbean and south america and CIBC world markets etc.
Lastly to drive the point home that these fees are absolutely unncessecary I will now retell a story from my 1st day in england when setting up my bank account:
Bank Employee (BE): And here is your bank card, you can use it as a debit card at switch (like interac) locations and to withdraw money.
Me: And what are the fees?
BE: What do you mean?
Me: the fees to use the card. When I go to a withdraw money how much will it be, 1 pound 2 pounds etc?
BE: um there are no fees?
Me: [looking awestruck and with the face of a 19th century provincial rube] no... feees?
Be: no, I'm not sure why we would need to charge a fee, the withdrawal machines are there for your conviniences. In fact a few years agot most of the UK banks suggested imposing a fee on all machines but the outcry from the public and the government was so strong it wasn't worth our while financially or politically.
Me: Wow... this is truly the promised land of Banking
BE: giggles
Me: Ok so how much is the fee for me to use this card at banking locations that are not affilated with this bank?
Be: There are no fees to use the machines of other banks either.. that was part of the deal. Either we'd all charge fees or we all would make it free to use
Me: foaming at the mouth with extasy.... promised land of banking.
If the brits can do it we can folks. Government outrage and public outrage was all it took. Come on Canada rouse yourself from your cold mid-winters, apathetic sleep. Get outraged for once... in fact we should all get outraged a lot more often.
Cheers,
P
posted by Patrick at
6:51 AM
6 Comments:
hot damn!
By
Kirk Schmidt, at 8:00 AM
It's true... it's all true! Of course, English ATMs are the only part of their banking system that works... but there's nothing sweeter than having a free ATM on every corner.
By
Anonymous, at 10:07 AM
Am I also finding myself agreeing with the british...!!! in fact twice today day... on this and on the enormous benefits of Double Decker busses.
Agreeing with the NDP and the British... the Apocalypse is truly here...
:)
Cheers,
P
By
Patrick, at 2:16 PM
Ummm sorry to burst your bubble guys, but it doesnt work like that. The amount that banks charge in fees are generally pretty much the same in liberalized markets. Its just a matter of how they are structured. British banks hit poor account holders extremely hard. By mistaking my NatWest account with my Citibank one, I was hit with a 38 pound fine, for trying to send something like 5 quid from an account that only had 3 pounds something in it online. I know there are some costs to the bank involved here, but 38 pounds are outragous and this is not the first time. During my student days, the fact that NatWest would not give me a penny of overdraft and these high fees hit me several times. After having tried to come to a solution over the phone involving the ombudsman, I finally gave up, because my phone bills were starting to approach the fee, so I paid up. Let noone ever tell you that British banks were "nice".
Cheers,
F
By
Falco, at 7:05 PM
I'm surprised you had so much trouble. HSBC bent over backwards to make sure my banking was easy and user friendly. Except for not being able to get a solo card my banking experience was just lovely. Far better than anything here.
Also.. I wouldn't give a student an overdraft either. That's a recepie for disaster for both the bank and the student.
By
Patrick, at 12:05 PM
Thank would make sense if I still was a student, but by then I was a fully employed resident whose work place happened to be just across from NatWest Piccadilly and whom Citibank gladly supplied with a Platinum Card. HSBC would never have me when I was a student (I guess its different with graduates) and their application proceedures was more complicated than any job interviews I had while in London, so I will never bank with them.
By
Falco, at 5:53 PM
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