Respected Chairman,
As an account holder of your bank, I am writing to you to raise my concern regarding the continuous deduction of money from my saving bank account for availing services from your bank.
I cannot maintain large sum of Rs.1000 every month and your bank i.e. Bank of India has started deducting Rs. 200 quarterly as penalty for not maintaining this minimum balance in my account, making it an extremely difficult and discriminatory system against people like me who doesn’t have required balance because of low income. There are many other charges that your bank is charging for availing other banking services. Your bank has also put a limit on number of times I can visit the bank branches in a month for any transaction, even to my home branch. I am being asked to pay a hefty amount of Rs. 50 every time I visit the branch to withdraw or deposit money after initial 5 transactions. Your bank has also put a restriction on number of free transactions that I can do through ATMs of your own bank as well as through another banks’ ATMs. Apart from these charges, there are also charges for SMS alerts, cash withdrawal and balance inquiry from ATMs, issuance and reissuance of debit card, debit card annual charges, for any mobile number, address or other KYC related changes, for depositing money at cash deposit machines, cheque book etc.
Apart from these charges, there is charge of Rs. 15 for SMS alerts, Rs. 20 for withdrawing money from ATMs, Rs. 8 for balance inquiry from ATMs, Rs. 150 for debit card issuance and Rs. 150 for ATM card replacement, Rs. 150 for debit card annual fee, Rs. 100 for ATM pin generation, Rs. 20 for declined debit card transactions due to insufficient balance and many other charges for changing mobile number, address or other KYC related changes, for depositing money at cash deposit machines, cheque book etc.
I opened my account in your bank thinking that your bank has good presence in my region and also accessible in many parts of the country. But instead of helping and making it easy for me, your bank has started collecting money by charging the common customers like me. I keep my money in bank account for its safety and to avail other banking services. It is the money of small depositors like me which your bank uses to lend to borrowers and make profit.
The bank charges are completely exhausting savings from my account and sometimes the balance becomes negative deducting money instantly when I deposit money next time.
Now, it seems pointless to have a saving account in your bank who is charging for accessing my own money deposited in my own account and dissuading me from being part of the banking system.
The money deposited in my account and so many others like me, is used by the bank to lend to borrowers. The bank makes profit from the interest on those loans. If your bank is not making enough profit from the loans you have given to borrowers, it is not the depositors fault and they should not be punished for this. If borrowers (many of them who belong to big companies and corporate houses) are not paying the loans back, then the bank should take actions against them instead of recovering that loss from common customers like me by making us pay more and more in the form of bank charges. On the one hand, you are writing off big loans worth thousands of crores given to rich people and on the other hand, you are asking small depositors to pay for the loss for which they are not responsible.
Your bank along with RBI and the government should take appropriate actions to recover the loans and take strict action against defaulters. The burden of these losses MUST not be transferred onto common people in the form of bank charges.
Therefore, I appeal you to remove all the charges levied on savings accounts in the form of various charges, fees and penalties for availing banking services. These charges are not only nullifying the interest earned on my savings, but they are also depleting my savings from my bank account.
I hope you will take appropriate action in this regard.
Most respectfully,