Guy calls banks ‘Shylock’ entities; blasts their poor customer service
Yet another Member of Parliament (MP) has criticised commercial banks for the “poor” level of service they are offering the public while making billions of dollars in profits.
The latest to do so is the MP for St Mary Central, Dr Morais Guy.
“The service of the banks in my constituency cannot be described as anything less than shoddy. The one bank in Highgate has overgrown its space and has had customers lining up outside on the sidewalk to await doing their transaction. This cannot be when the very same banks make super profits off the very customers who they treat with disdain,” said Guy.
He was speaking last Wednesday during his contribution to the State of the Constituency Debate in the House of Representatives.
He said the situation with the bank in Port Maria was no different.
“It is just heart-breaking to see senior citizens sit in the bank awaiting service, having travelled from far as one bank closed their branch in Highgate years ago and these customers’ accounts transferred to the Port Maria branch.
“These are the very same citizens who will not, or cannot do online banking and trying to draw them into this is like taking the horse to the water and trying to force it to drink. Banks need to be more creative and recognise that one size does not fit all,” said Guy.
Speaking of his personal experience with the poor customer service at a bank, Guy said: “I won’t even speak to the discourtesy meted out to me by the security guard who tried to interrogate me, a customer, as to the reason why I was there and denying me entry into the new building of one of the banks in Port Maria. Can you imagine what other citizens have to endure at the hands of these Shylock entities. We demand better service”.
During his contribution to the constituency debates in September, the MP for St Mary Western, Robert Montague, blasted the commercial banks for their poor treatment of customers. He went as far as to ask the Minister of Finance, Dr Nigel Clarke to revoke the licences of poor performing banks.
“The people in Western St Mary are having a hard time with their banking needs as the commercial banks have all gone cashless and are charging fees as if it’s going out of style. We are of the view that the banks are putting profits over people,” Montague stated.
He also criticised the banks for charging fees on dormant accounts, and questioned how an account can be dormant in the first place.
“I am told that the banks credit your account at least twice per year with interest. If this be so, it means that every account has activity at least twice per year. If this is true, how then can an account be dormant?
“On what basis are they charging a dormancy fee?” Montague asked.
He suggested that if there is no activity on these accounts, the banks need to tell what they do with interest earned from the accounts.
“If they lend out people’s money and don’t give back a portion of the interest earned, it’s not only fraud, it is downright robbery,” he remarked. He said the finance minister and the Bank of Jamaica should investigate the practice and fine the banks.