3 posts tagged “banking”

I lost count of how many hours it took for the compose screen to come up, but since it is night-time now, and I am pretty sure there was sunlight when I first began clicking ‘Create’, we can say a good quarter of the day has passed, at least.
   The good news is that Daisy at Vox—a.k.a. the only lady who seems to care—has written back to me to say my issue has been passed on to the boffins there. I hope they can sort it out, but I believe that since I have tested Vox on Macs and PCs, and in two different cities using two different ISPs, and all manner of browsers, then we can rule out anything I am doing wrong. I have, after all, been on the web since 1993 and kind of know what I am doing.
   The other good news is that I have something other than technogripes to post.
   First up, the Auckland Savings Bank, which is owned by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, is trying to push how “Kiwi” it is. Kiwibank, in New Zealand, must be a real threat to ASB, because people are conscious of how much Australian banks have been ripping off New Zealand customers. Hence the whole local angle, which is not really convincing anyone except for a few people in the boardroom at ASB. (In fact, a whole Facebook group has been set up to refute these advertisements.)
   Here is the outdoor ad that reminded me of the campaign:

to which Helen Baxter, others and I say, ‘Cobblers!’
   As it is nearly impossible to get a compose screen on Vox, here is a second image I wanted to share. The yellow roses that I posted earlier were the worse for wear after some gales here, but you can’t beat nature. Here’s one of the new arrivals, photographed earlier today:    Like Chance the Gardener, I have other flowers. In the spring. In the garden.    As you can see, the spring weather has finally come, albeit very late in the piece.

Yesterday, I became a customer of the Taranaki Savings Bank. I got my accounts open with the manager herself, Lynne Russell. Today, one of her staff opened my US currency account, on which I get interest—rather than be stung the $17 or whatever it was at the ANZ just for having the account.
   No fees on EFT-POS and ATM (not that I ever use these), no fees on my account since I have a healthy balance, and, basically, banking as it should be.
   Remember when you deposit money into a bank you are technically making a loan to the bank. There is no logical reason you should be charged for that—unless when you take out a loan, you can charge the bank a discretionary fee. (I dare you to ask.)
   The TSB gets it. It gets that the customer is ‘paramount’, as I was told by one of its team today. Sir John Anderson and his fellow directors do not. I was with the ANZ since 1995 (leaving after Sir John took over from Sir Spencer Russell at the National Bank and began instigating some ridiculous charges there). I told Lynne she should expect I will stay with the Taranaki bank for 20-plus years.

I went to deposit, as I often do, a US dollar cheque into a New Zealand dollar account.
   The nice lady, Bev, tells me that there is now a $5 fee for depositing a foreign cheque.
   ANZ is totally f***ed up if it believes it can do this.
   I already have spoken to Lynne Russell at the TSB and I’ll be opening my account there at the end of March. It seems TSB is one of the few banks left in the country that understand what banking means.
   To Sir John Anderson and the other assholes making these decisions at the ANZ: when I deposit money with you, it is not a privilege for me. It is a privilege for you. I am loaning you money.
   For that, I expect you to pay me interest.
   You do not ask me for money.
   Why do you think I left the National Bank when Sir Spencer Russell retired? Because the last of the old guard went and all I saw were hot-shot assholes putting up bank charges across the board.
   You were there, Sir John. I know you are a nice guy in the regular scheme of things but why do you have to be the man at the top of banks that make these ridiculous plays?
   Dudes, you don’t realize that despite consolidation, you still ain’t the only game in town, though there should be more competition in banking.
   Banking management is, on the whole, incompetent in this country, though I understand we are still streets ahead of the UK. We certainly are when it comes to service, though in my experience the Swedes are well ahead again.
   You can tell when the Cheques Act 1993 needed to be drafted up because the banks were too incompetent to operate within the law up till that point. We have a perfectly functioning Bills of Exchange Act 1908 that covers cheques, but no—the banks were too confused about it.
   I still operate as though the 1993 act did not exist and mark my cheques based on the earlier act, which is still on the books.
   Most banks have refrained from charging me fees but they cannot do much about these head-office rules, so I will be withdrawing my deposits at, I mean, my loan to, the ANZ Bank and placing it with a New Zealand-owned operation that seems to understand banking and finance better.
   I’d encourage fellow New Zealanders to do the same. There is nothing morally acceptable about these bank fees, especially when it comes to deposits.
   When you borrow money from the bank, you pay them interest. When you lend money to the bank—which is technically what happens when you make a deposit—they should pay you. Even if they didn’t pay you and left it at a zero-sum game, that is still fine, but only just.
   Someone at ANZ forgot what banking is all about.