Banks increase ATM fees when people withdraw a few coins to spend during Tet?

In less than a month, banks will be allowed to increase their fees for domestic withdrawals, that is, withdrawals at ATMs of the bank that issued the card. This move is considered the last resort for banks to find additional sources of income while other sources of income are gradually being limited.

Previously, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Cung, Central Institute for Economic Management, explained the dense proposals for collecting fees and fines.

Dr. Nguyen Dinh Cung said that means the mindset of us lacking money. "Don't collect, don't fine. Collecting and fining means the mindset of us lacking money. Always wasting and fining is very frustrating for a business environment."

People are preparing to pay extra fees when withdrawing money from their own cards.

According to Vietcombank representative, up to now there has been no announcement from the leaders so it is not known whether there will be an increase in domestic withdrawal fees in early 2014 or not.

Vietinbank representative said that because they just started charging domestic withdrawal fees since November 2013, the bank is having to carefully consider whether to increase fees in early 2014.

Many banks said they are waiting for information from other banks before making a decision. Many banks that have been free to withdraw cash within their networks since early 2013 now charge fees, except for Dong A Bank and some other small banks with few ATMs.

Although banks are showing hesitation in announcing plans to increase fees for fear of losing customers, the fee increase will only happen sooner or later.

Some say that, due to the large number of dead businesses and increasing bad debt, banks cannot lend at exorbitant rates, so targeting retail consumers is considered the best policy.

While banks are complaining about losses because they have not collected enough money from customers using ATM cards, customers feel they have lost out because they should have enjoyed these benefits for free as before.

They have lent the bank a sum of money at an extremely low interest rate (less than the annual inflation rate), so it is natural that they withdraw money within the network without any fees. So the story of charging fees has received negative reactions from the people, now considering increasing it will have many consequences.

Like credit cards, if there are fees, there are up to 17 types of fees that affect these cardholders.

According to the Maritime Bank Platinum credit card fee schedule, the annual fee for each main card alone is up to VND1.2 million/year. Customers who want to query their limit at ATMs are charged VND5,000/transaction, much higher than the VND1,650 of debit cards. The average cash withdrawal fee for this type of card is about 3% of the total transaction amount.

Techcombank Visa credit card is higher, 4%/withdrawal amount. In addition, customers also have to pay a series of other fees like Techcombank Visa card including: PIN re-issuance fee 30,000 VND/time, lost notification fee 100,000 VND, statement issuance fee 80,000 VND/time, credit limit confirmation fee 80,000 VND/time, foreign currency conversion management fee 2.39%/total transaction amount.

If the customer pays, even just one day, the customer will have to pay a fee of 3% on the late payment amount (for Maritime Bank Platinum card), and for Techcombank Visa card, the fee is up to 6% on the total late payment amount.

In addition, from February 20, customers using ATM cards will have to pay an additional annual fee ranging from 0 VND to 60,000 VND/card. If withdrawing cash within the system, previously free for cardholders, since 2013, the State Bank has allowed a maximum fee of 1,000 VND/transaction, in 2014 a maximum of 2,000 VND and in 2015 a maximum of 3,000 VND.

Thus, according to the roadmap allowed by the State Bank, the fees that banks can collect will gradually increase over time.

According to baodatviet.vn