Today I’m recording a podcast about why people hate banks so much – and what we can do about it.
I’m interviewing a range of people about banks, independent commentators as well as bank representatives.
This all started with a twtpoll I started last night about which bank is the least evil.
We all know that banks are one of the major causes of the Global Financial Crisis. It’s time we did something about them.
Here’s a list of information and twitter comments I’ve gathered while preparing for the show:
All of the major banks in Australia have MAJOR negative customer satisfaction scores.
Bank fees rose by 8% last year to nearly $12 billion
There is absolutely no reason for bank fees of any kind to exist. Banks borrow our money and charge us for the privilege. Banks already make a metric fuckton of money just by HAVING our hard earned savings in their possession. (@ryanbooker)
without the govt guarantee, i would not be depositing w bendigobank. Nice guys, crap risk management. (@bernardk)
Have found St George to be best bank I have used in AU but I still get best service from UK banks despite being here 15 yrs (@marksmithers)
all banks are evil! $12 billion made from penalty fees in 2008 (@jeremycabral)
“We all know that banks are one of the major causes of the Global Financial Crisis. It’s time we did something about them.”
Hmmmm…. Not to defend the banks, but what precisely did the Australian banks do to help cause the GFC? Wasn’t it mostly the US banks?
Arguably the fact that the Aussie banks love gouging customers with high fees are what’s helped them remain profitable when so many of the US banks are failing.
Following your link to my story on negative satisfaction scores I wanted to let you know that there were some other stats I found too: http://customergauge.com/wordpress/?p=530
I think Aussie banks are probably no worse than others around the world, but on a positive note there seems to be a mood of listening to the customer in Australian banks – they have all gone crazy for the Net Promoter Score which is a simple but effective way of tracking satisfaction, and also helping culture change. Best thing about is that it’s a single metric (like profit, and number of customers) that can be compared between banks.
Maybe it’s the “big island” mentality of Australia, but it seems that there is a local competition to have the best Net Promoter Score – and that’s ultimately good for customers!
The smart people are the borrowers, not the lenders. Look at the mess the U.S. Banking system is in.
No reason to assume that Oz banks are particularly well run unless I am missing something.
I overdrew my account last year and questioned my bank about it. At first they tried to tell me it was their IP, I told them bull – I as a consume had a right to know what they were basing their fees on. After several emails back and forth, one rep said that the fees they charged were legal and within their rights and it didn’t matter that the fees didn’t relate to costs incurred by them. So I asked “You’re basically telling me the reason you charge $50 every time someone overdraws their account is ‘because you can’?” The reply was: “Yes.”
Thank you for this. Except am not sure i can agree. This article suggest that overseas they are better. Is that me misreading things?
In short, we all have a hard time with banks in Oz. They have old fashioned charges.
What is worse is to realise that all banks are shit – I’ve just been transfering money to Aus from overseas. They said it’d take a few days. It took three weeks. Because they are all stealing bastards. I hope to get the interest back.
Thanks for this blog tho…
J
James, if “all banks are shit”, why does Bendigo seem to get high marks from its customers?