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BY HERBERT VEGO
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Sunday, June 25, 2017!
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IN THIS month of June, two Philippine Banks – the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) and Banco de Oro (BDO) – have reaped public outrage due to “glitch” and “scheming”, respectively. Some kind of dagdag-bawas, BPI’s confirmed error stemmed from “double-posting” by one of its programmers, resulting in either rise or fall of balances on depositors’ accounts.
That of BDO was one of failure to safeguard certain ATM units from “high-tech” thieves who had installed “scheming devices” thereat, allowing them to duplicate depositors’ ATM cards. The wrongly debited depositors now have to beg of BDO for refund. What if the latter refuses?
No doubt, the aforesaid examples of Murphy’s Law – “Whatever can go wrong will go wrong” – would go a long way in further eroding public distrust in the banking system. Such distrust is exacerbated by the banks’ inability to appease offended clients.
Almost two years ago, this writer cited the case of a retired government employee named Bernardita Lerio. Let me briefly recall that on Aug. 9, 2015, she tried to withdraw cash at the Landbank ATM (Plaza Libertad branch, Iloilo City). Instead of dispensing cash, however, the machine “ate” her card. That day being a Sunday, there was no personnel except the security guard who asked her to come back “tomorrow na lang.”
She did as requested and got back her card but was unable to withdraw because her presumed balance of P26,000 had diminished to only P63.73. Obviously, an unknown “magician” had withdrawn her money. Suspecting “inside job,” she sought the help of the bank manager. To this day, however, she is still supplicating to regain her money.
No wonder then that despite massive advertising and promotion, Philippine banks fail to attract depositors. The latest word from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is that only ten million Filipinos, or 10 percent of our population, maintain bank accounts.
One does not have to be a glitch victim to realize the risk of “growing” money in regular savings account that does not earn attractive interest but, on the contrary, melts down due to “penalty” whenever it falls below the bank’s required minimum deposit.
Interest on regular savings account is unattractive at a measly 0.75 to 1 percent per annum. As if this were not bad enough, this meager interest is slapped a withholding tax. Therefore, “savers” don’t really save but lose money – more so because of periodic rise in prices of prime commodities.
Moreover, savings account clients who fail to deposit or withdraw in two straight years are also on the losing end. They are slapped a “dormancy fee” of P30 per month.
Little do ordinary depositors realize that they lend their hard-earned money to the bank, which in turn lends it to big businessmen for much higher interest.
On the other hand, when the same clients apply for loan, banks tend to turn them down due to lack of collateral, short of saying, “We don’t trust you.”
On our part, can we still trust the banking system now that it has failed to protect a growing number of depositors’ money? It is no longer possible to count in one’s fingers the banks that have folded up, leaving their depositors at the delayed mercy of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC), which could only refund no more than P400,000 per account. If a depositor has more than that, sorry na lang.
Incidentally, there was a time when LBC Bank declared bankruptcy. If the unfortunate clients interpret that as “orchestrated,” it’s because its affiliate courier company – the “hari ng padala” – has ironically prospered. (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
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