If we're not careful about banking fees, we'll be losing a lot more than we gain from the bank.
I learnt this first-hand when I didn't monitor a savings account I had opened during my university days. I always thought just keeping it aside would be safe, but boy, was I wrong.
By the time I realised it, the bank had deducted hundreds of dollars from my account to pay for the "account servicing fee" (in other words, just keeping my money for me), as my deposit amount had dropped to below the required minimum balance.
This was completely new to me as I've never experienced this with my POSB account before.
I didn't manage to pull up all the records, but here's one of them. The bank paid me a pathetic 2 cents in interest, while they happily deducted $10 from me. That's almost like the equivalent of the bank getting 49,900% in returns from me just because I was an ignorant customer!
Hundreds of dollars had been taken away from me without my knowing it, all because I didn't bother checking my monthly banking statements. You can bet that I always opened up every single banking statement and letter from then now. Even so, I never got to earn back the money they had taken away from me when I wasn't watching.
Look at that pathetic interest paid over 12 months, which pales in comparison to the interest I get from my other savings accounts with other banks.
So ever since I became more financially conscious, I've made several moves and changes - such as moving my money into savings accounts that pay out higher interest rates, cancelling my ILP, and being smarter about my credit cards.
What prompted this post? Well, the same bank recently just revised their rates again:
- They've TRIPLED their minimum banking amount requirement (for you to be exempted from their hefty account servicing fees)
and
- Increased their account service fee by a whopping 50%!
I'm now considering whether to cancel my account completely, put some money in there, or make my next investment purchases through them so that the total balance will meet theirinsanely sky-high requirements. Any thoughts?
For those of you wondering whether you're affected, just check if you're a customer of the following bank:
If so, you now have about 2.5 months to make a decision / change.
Be smart. Don't be silly like me to end up paying all that hundreds of dollars to the bank for nothing. It is a dreadful mistake which I still haven't quite gotten over.
With love,
Budget Babe
I learnt this first-hand when I didn't monitor a savings account I had opened during my university days. I always thought just keeping it aside would be safe, but boy, was I wrong.
By the time I realised it, the bank had deducted hundreds of dollars from my account to pay for the "account servicing fee" (in other words, just keeping my money for me), as my deposit amount had dropped to below the required minimum balance.
This was completely new to me as I've never experienced this with my POSB account before.
I didn't manage to pull up all the records, but here's one of them. The bank paid me a pathetic 2 cents in interest, while they happily deducted $10 from me. That's almost like the equivalent of the bank getting 49,900% in returns from me just because I was an ignorant customer!
Hundreds of dollars had been taken away from me without my knowing it, all because I didn't bother checking my monthly banking statements. You can bet that I always opened up every single banking statement and letter from then now. Even so, I never got to earn back the money they had taken away from me when I wasn't watching.
Look at that pathetic interest paid over 12 months, which pales in comparison to the interest I get from my other savings accounts with other banks.
So ever since I became more financially conscious, I've made several moves and changes - such as moving my money into savings accounts that pay out higher interest rates, cancelling my ILP, and being smarter about my credit cards.
What prompted this post? Well, the same bank recently just revised their rates again:
- They've TRIPLED their minimum banking amount requirement (for you to be exempted from their hefty account servicing fees)
and
- Increased their account service fee by a whopping 50%!
I'm now considering whether to cancel my account completely, put some money in there, or make my next investment purchases through them so that the total balance will meet their
For those of you wondering whether you're affected, just check if you're a customer of the following bank:
If so, you now have about 2.5 months to make a decision / change.
Be smart. Don't be silly like me to end up paying all that hundreds of dollars to the bank for nothing. It is a dreadful mistake which I still haven't quite gotten over.
With love,
Budget Babe
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