How Evil Are The Banks?

Clickbait on 11/01/2025 - 12:44
Last edited 11/01/2025 - 16:50 by 1 other user

About a month ago a friend told me one of his bank accounts had just disappeared from online. He it didn't do much with it so no big deal but wondered why.

Lo and behold, yesterday three have disappeared off my account, just guessing here, but the banks' business is now "clipping the ticket", taking a % of mainly credit card transactions, so if your account runs low balances and pay/receives mainly B2B transfers, you are in their sights. No fees, no interest and no Credit Card "Clip".

When I logged on yesterday to pay a Visa account, I tried using Bpay, but they informed me they could delay payment for 48 hours in the interests of my safety and security? On a bank to bank transaction (please don't correct me on this).

This account has a credit card attached to it, and they don't see any revenue/profit in Accounts that don't.
If you have a biggish balance, that they can conduct their historical business on, that is earning interest on deposits, you should be OK

Until the politicians stand for the voters and not the donors, we are in trouble.
There is no doubt the banks are colluding but where is ACCC?

Financial

Comments

  • adam on 11/01/2025 - 12:49
    +26

    Banks are (mostly) publicly owned and listed companies. If you believe they are ripping people off, just buy shares in it & you can participate in the rip-offs.

    • joka on 11/01/2025 - 12:55
      +1

      Yep, if you can’t beat them, join them.

      • MITM on 11/01/2025 - 13:21
        +29

        Can't - OP has a low balance

    • serpserpserp on 11/01/2025 - 21:25
      +1

      Well given nearly all super funds have bank shares, you already participate in the rip-offs.

    • ozboygsl on 12/01/2025 - 09:31

      If you really believe that and think it's viable, don't breed.

    • whyisave on 12/01/2025 - 23:48
      +1

      This kind of 'shareholder capitalism' mentality creates the problems we see today, where society is at odds with each other, via proxy.

      Didn't they tell us "we're all in this, together" ?

  • Jaduqimon on 11/01/2025 - 13:07
    +33

    username checks out

  • MITM on 11/01/2025 - 13:08
    +5

    Banks are as safe as houses - you know, the great Australian (ponzi) dream/scheme. SIC Yes, banks close dormant accounts (if not used for a long period of time and small amounts are forwarded to the government which you can claim back). But it's easier if you close your accounts if you no longer use them - easier than ranting on OZB.

  • MS Paint on 11/01/2025 - 13:14
    +56

    I asked copilot to convert this post into something readable and include a tl;dr.

    This was the reply…

    I am here to help but I have no idea what the writer is banging on about.

    • Protractor on 11/01/2025 - 13:37
      +3

      I got the finger in the ears emoji and lalalalalalala text

      • Foggy Fluoride Stare on 11/01/2025 - 19:32
        +2

        I infer that the central theme of the post pertains to the closure of accounts regarded as non-performing or unprofitable for the bank to retain.

        In reality, this should not present any substantial burden to the banks, given that the cost of keeping an account active is minimal, particularly as nearly every bank now encourages the use of online statements. NAB, in particular, persistently pushes to impose online statements, even when one has expressly opted out in the past. (Try opt in for paper statements via the online portal, and you will find, a few months later, a letter in your mailbox informing you that your next statement will, in fact, be paperless…)

        Cue Protractor's remarks, insinuating that I am merely a product of artificial intelligence. It seems he is unable to distinguish between someone raised in a cultured environment and a mere machine.

        The following paragraph is primarily directed towards @Protractor.

        I have extensive experience working with disadvantaged communities, particularly through my involvement with the Rotary Club. You may find this following statement offensive, but it is a fact that many in the community lack an extensive vocabulary or the ability to spell proficiently. This, however, is quite common among the typical working class Australian. They nonetheless deserve to be represented and have their voices heard, notwithstanding the criticisms from others who have issues comprehending the original post.

        In comparison to my social circles, it appears that people online have become increasingly insensitive in recent times. The media often portrays the elites as evil and out of touch, yet the reality is quite different; it is, in fact, the average Australian who tends to be disconnected from those just beneath them on the social ladder.

        Think for a moment: What is your perspective on that?

        I know Protractor's posts are quite touchy. I recognise that I am treading a fine line, as on platforms like Whirlpool, such remarks might be construed as a personal attack and deserving of a ban, but I believe it is crucial for the average Australian to reflect upon their own actions and recognise how fortunate they are to possess the ability to read and write proficiently. Hopefully Protractor can tone down the rhetoric in their posts.

        I gave careful consideration to which post I should respond to and concluded that it would be more appropriate to address Protractor directly, with the hope that the others might also take note of it.

        • MS Paint on 11/01/2025 - 19:44
          +1

          I know you are real because AI would be smart enough to quote the acronym correctly.

        • Protractor on 11/01/2025 - 21:48
          -2

          Thanks for the patronising third floor comeuppance your honour.;)

          Perhaps you could equally adjust your rhetoric to educate the authors of the relentless tidal wave of questions asked ( which can be resolved quite easily) by advicing advising said authors of the remote possibly of direct contact with the source of their issue.
          Do your seriously think the fact you do good work with Rotary in battler communities has any relevance to anything the OP said, I said or the issue raised?

          The community world has lost the ability to resolve issues the natural way , or talk to neighbours,banks,fellow drivers,everyone they need to (except for strangers on the net) because strangers on the net, keep enabling that behaviour.
          Phone/visit,message the bank?. Check the spam folder?. It's not that hard.

          EDIT Also Floury, I love that you registered using a new alt username to troll me using AI.

          • MS Paint on 11/01/2025 - 22:30
            +1

            @Protractor:

            good work with Rotary

            Reminds me of a great gag….

            Son: mum, how do lions make love?
            Mum: I'm not sure, your father's a rotarian.

            • Protractor on 11/01/2025 - 22:33

              @MS Paint: LOL
              Accurate on a few levels
              Also
              It helps me to picture Foggy (note his initials FFS, FFS!) having a voice like Stephen Fry
              wink wink

    • jay889344 on 11/01/2025 - 19:22

      Copilot basically said - 'what an inane post.'

  • Shoocat on 11/01/2025 - 13:19
    +14

    Did you or your friend contact your bank(s) to ask directly what has happened to your 'missing' accounts? Seems to me you're piling conjecture onto speculation.

    • Protractor on 11/01/2025 - 14:10
      +3

      The answer is…..Just guessing here

    • bobbified on 11/01/2025 - 17:54
      +1

      Of course not. Otherwise we wouldn't have a post.

  • Protractor on 11/01/2025 - 13:33

    Username acquires epitome of status.

  • Ocker on 11/01/2025 - 13:52
    +1

    Banks are running a business - not a charity

    • Protractor on 11/01/2025 - 14:21
      +2

      Apparently you can use a username like clickbait, drop a random rage about evil banks, without even bothering to find out WTF is going on (contact the source) and expect a ringing community endorsement? Would not be surprised if OP has had dozens of notifications from the bank, and they have either been ignored (and or deleted) or in their spam folder.
      This thread (much like every days chaff is almost cut and paste on non news from the MSM rags, where every second word is 'fury', outrage or some other over the top hyperbole.

      • MS Paint on 11/01/2025 - 14:40
        +3

        Probably doesn't read their emails like the other dude who's now $6k poorer.

        • Smol Cat on 13/01/2025 - 11:51

          Context?

          • MS Paint on 13/01/2025 - 12:01

            @Smol Cat: here

            • Smol Cat on 13/01/2025 - 19:19

              @MS Paint: Thanks for that. Kinda sucks for OP but not the end of the world. Not really the banks fault either after 7 months.

    • Mokr on 11/01/2025 - 16:58

      I know plenty of charities that are run for pr and owner self interest

    • rinbond on 12/01/2025 - 20:48
      -4

      Ha,well i got plenty of negs from the labor party voters and the fools who honestly think they are not an evil party

  • KangaDrew on 11/01/2025 - 14:25
    +2

    Selectively presenting anecdotes as facts are the epitome of confirmation bias and misguided thinking.

    • Protractor on 11/01/2025 - 14:41
      -1

      Barnaby's stock & trade.

  • mrdean on 11/01/2025 - 14:47

    You're going to be hearing a lot more of this; for your "safety & security".

    • gromit on 13/01/2025 - 00:15
      +1

      Of course you are. So many whiners want to blame the babks everytime they are scammed because they are idiots and are demanding banks are held accountable for thier idiocy. The net effect is they will get what they want which will mean lots more conditions, hurdles and delays in payments and transfers which of course they will also whine about

  • justworld on 11/01/2025 - 15:12
    +1

    Evil? The bank gives me a relationship manager for free so I get a convenient point of contact, processes home loan applications within 24 hours, lends me hundreds of thousands of dollars at a rate no one else can come close to matching, and doesn't charge a fee for a basic transaction account. OP must be living in (profanity) la la land.

  • try2bhelpful on 11/01/2025 - 15:22
    -3

    These are not run by the Government; they are for profit companies. They probably have little interest in small deposits because they don’t make much money off them. You want banks run for the benefit of the people get the Commonwealth Bank back in Government hands. Just watch people scream “socialists”.

    Frankly I want the delays between banks reinstated for security reasons. Right now money can be transferred too easily and people don’t get time to stop transactions that are dodgy. My bank sends me a message when money is transferred out of my account. If it is dodgy I would like time to contact them and get it shut down. I also think a lot less people would be scammed if they time to go “wait a minute” after the scammer phone call has ended and they could stop an overnight transfer to another account.

    I would be surprised if they are trimming dormant accounts without sending a letter in the post. Just wondering if contact details are up to date for the accounts that are closed down? Contact the banking Ombudsman if you think accounts have been shutdown unfairly.

    The Banks have a number of things that annoy me but it is their house, their rules.

    • Protractor on 11/01/2025 - 16:15

      I think we have brought this instant shit onto ourselves by demanding instant gratification in everything,inc banking.

      For me It would be good if consumers could set an automatic bank notification if money above a certain level is seen to be active in your account . (To be honest it should be a regulated requirement) Customers could set the amount , say $5K and have that notification sent. The funds don't get to move without account owner providing a pre-set code,password ,secret answer etc.
      Or you could freeze transaction at the point of notification (if dodgy)
      Of course this all supposes somebody has not stolen your ID and relevant details, but if you and bank HQ are the only ones with a copy of the secret answer, maybe it could work somehow??

      Banks seem to have endless funds and rather than lose a bit of time for more security, they'd rather payback lost funds. In reality though, it's more than lost funds to the customer. There's flow on side effects from anguish through to needing to redo accounts etc post theft.

    • tenpercent on 12/01/2025 - 18:47

      their house, their rules

      They have what amounts to a license to 'print' (on a screen) money. Surely part of the social contract of being allowed to do cause inflation of the money supply like that is in return offering a reasonable level of service for all customers?

      • try2bhelpful on 12/01/2025 - 19:19

        As long as what they do is legal and within regulations then it is up to the customers to do the cost/benefit analysis. Personally I think we should have a government bank and government insurance but then we will get the usual suspects who scream “socialist”.

    • try2bhelpful on 13/01/2025 - 14:18

      It would appear people are negging me for stating facts. I’m sure this comment will be negged as well. They are for profit entities. They are legally bound to do what is best for shareholders within the legal and regulation framework. If you buy into “small Government” then don’t bitch when it means less services. We used to have public owned entities for power, banking, telecommunication, etc. part of the brief was looking after poor people. We sold them off to for profit companies who acted in a manner that for profit companies do. So why are we surprised?

  • freefall101 on 11/01/2025 - 19:33

    IMO having a solid as a rock banking industry is a good thing. Downside is they make massive profits from it as a result.

    There is no doubt the banks are colluding

    They're not, there is no need to. They really compete very heavily to win over a mostly uncaring public who don't really know the difference between one bank and the next.

    Not happy with your bank? Switch to another one, it's dead easy.

  • JIMB0 on 11/01/2025 - 20:07

    The banks have been very generous to me over the years. ING and Macquarie used to give 50c just for getting cashout. I've also gotten thousands in value for signing up for credit cards, not to mention an easy few thousand just for refinancing a mortgage. Hardly evil at all.

    • MS Paint on 11/01/2025 - 21:12

      The sign of a distinguished gentleman who clearly checks his emails.

      • JIMB0 on 11/01/2025 - 21:33

        And ozbargain account.

  • grog on 12/01/2025 - 11:45

    The Tax office is your friend ….banks are pure rip off merchants.

    Tax office only want what you owe them and banks want all your money as pure profit

    prove me wrong please.

    • rinbond on 12/01/2025 - 20:43

      Well said

  • CoreArchitect on 12/01/2025 - 14:40
    +2

    The OP needs to look up the meaning of Evil.

    • tenpercent on 12/01/2025 - 18:34
      -1

      According to the bastion of truthiness Wikipedia

      Evil, by one definition, is being bad and acting out morally incorrect behavior; or it is the condition of causing unnecessary pain and suffering, thus containing a net negative on the world"

  • cannedhams on 12/01/2025 - 18:09
    +2

    The Banks get 2/3 of their funding from the Reserve Bank. Magic money from a government spreadsheet.

    They then lend that money to you at a markup. The government conjures up money, ex nihilo, the Bank then charges you for being a supefluous middleman and you spend your whole life paying them off as a consequence.

    If people truly understood what a scam the banks were there would be blood in the streets.

    • rinbond on 12/01/2025 - 20:45
      +1

      That a great statement and those who trust banks are fools

    • MrMarket on 12/01/2025 - 22:16

      Dont let the truth get in the way of a good story

      https://www.rba.gov.au/mkt-operations/term-funding-facility/…

      The TFF has provided $188 billion in funding to banks. This funding is equivalent to 4 per cent of banks' non-equity funding, or 6 per cent of credit. Drawdowns were concentrated over two periods of heightened activity in the lead up to expiry dates for allowances (Graph C.1).

  • buckerooni on 13/01/2025 - 12:05

    use gold and magic beans only to escape The Matrix

  • wetsandwich on 15/01/2025 - 14:42

    This post is quite a strange rant without much of a point ever being reached. To answer what you asked, the banks are not inherently evil, they provide a service according to what makes them profit. If they do something that society doesn't like, the government might change the laws and/or punish them with fines. But generally in capitalism, companies will ride the edge of legality and morality until something changes.

    Which bank? Were the accounts inactive?

    Either the bank requested KYC documents and didn't receive them, or the accounts were over x years old (maybe 3 or 5 years) without any activity, or something else entirely.

    What did the bank say when you queried it? Because as far as I know, Ozbargain forums are not a known support channel for bank customers. At least not with my bank. I usually have to call the bank's own phone number.

    • tenpercent on 15/01/2025 - 16:47

      Why would a bank allow you to open an account without sufficient KYC documents upfront?

      • wetsandwich on 15/01/2025 - 17:48
        +1

        They shouldnt, but I have personally had a bank ask many years later for documents all of a sudden and they sounded quite threatening about it. Maybe when i first opened the account in the early 2000's they didnt have the same requirements, and an audit made them say 'we only have 90 points on file' or something.

        I don't know, im just thinking of possible explanations for the random account disappearances the OP is reporting, if they asked him for KYC and he never read the emails that could explain it.

        • tenpercent on 16/01/2025 - 21:12

          That happened to me last year. They wanted a selfie to continue using my account. I called up and asked "why". They said "to confirm my identity". I said "but you don't have any photo ID of me on file". I think I bamboozled the customer service rep with that, "I'm just doing my job" she said. Where have I heard that one before.

          • Clickbait on 17/01/2025 - 12:44
            +1

            @tenpercent: I just remembered, a few years back, my login opened to a screen that listed 20-30 checkboxed occupations, and informed me I had to provide info according to government " regulations."
            They gor increasingly threatening so I ticked all the boxes
            Never found anything about it on Google
            And never heard back from the bank

            • tenpercent on 18/01/2025 - 16:27

              @Clickbait: It's quite strange how some banks ask invasive questions about occupation, where you got your money from, give us a photo of your ID front and back… meanwhile others (including at least one of the big 3) are happy to just accept your medicare card number and license number and KYC job done.
              The other strange thing is the legislation they quote as being their reason was brought in by Howard decades ago, so why are they only doing it now?

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