Richard A. Micallef, Ta' l-Ibraġ.
Bank charge is a backward step
For some years I have been a regular user of the 24x7 internet banking offered by Bank of Valletta. In the wake of the excellent profits declared by the bank, I would have expected that customer service and especially matters relating to bank charges, would have improved.
This is not the case, since I suddenly became aware of a new charge of €4 per local bank transfer/transaction. On average I carry out about five such transactions a month and this now equates to €240 or over Lm100 per annum. It would be interesting to know - in the bank's budgeting - how many more millions of euros it stands to reap from us puny customers. I thank Geoffrey Bezzina of the MFSA who very kindly explained the intricacies of the SEPA, which apparently obliges (my words) the banks to charge the €4 irrespective of whether the transaction is a local one or inter-EU country.
I am quite sure that the bank can do better than that. I for sure will revert to issuing a cheque (until I presume they will be banned or charged for) spending 19c plus envelope per payment. But is it the way forward?
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Jakob Kegel
Mar 26th 2008, 10:58
The new charges with the excuse of SEPA is counter productive to the whole idea of making payments easier and cheaper for end consumers and small businesses.
J. Fiorentino
Mar 7th 2008, 15:49
Dear Mr. Micallef. Do you mean that you are being charged 4 Euros even when you pay your telephone bill, electricity bill etc by Internet banking?
Anthony Borg
Mar 7th 2008, 11:38
Inter bank charges(local) have been in existance well before SEPA was introduced. I do believe that the MFSA gave you the wrong information. I enquired about charges years ago. When banks started introducing internet banking, I was given a sliding scale of charges, depending of how much the sum transfered was. I too decided that it was cheaper to draw cash and pay it in or cheque. Cash was best as it was available for withdrwal or earns interest instantly. After all most bank branches are within walking distance of each other. And we tought that the introduction of internet banking was going to make banking cheaper since the banks will save on counter and back office staff. Obviously some ofthe savings have not been passed on