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Banks begin collecting ATM fees, quietly
Just a few months ago, commercial banks announced they would delay the plan on collecting ATM fees. However, in fact, many banks have begun collecting fees without informing clients.
This morning, January 20, a lot of readers in HCM City called VietNamNet, saying that they could not withdraw cash from ATMs of banks in the city due to network errors. When they went to ATMs of affiliated banks to withdraw money, they were assessed fees.
T.A.Ngan, one of the readers who called VietNamNet this morning, said that there was no advance notice about any fee collection. “I heard that the State Bank of Vietnam did not allow commercial banks to collect fees for money withdrawals. Why are banks collecting fees from clients?” she questioned.
People said that banks deducted VND3,300 from their accounts for every withdrawal.
Nguyen Thi Thanh Hang, Director of the Card Centre under Vietcombank, said that as of January 15, 2009, the bank began collecting ATM fees. However, Vietcombank is only collecting fees from transactions carried out by holders of other banks’ cards, it is not collecting fees from clients who have Vietcombank cards and withdraw money from Vietcombank ATMs.
Hang said that the State Bank of Vietnam does not prohibit banks from collecting fees from cardholders who use other banks’ ATMs.
“Vietcombank needs to collect fees to pay the unit that provides the connection technique services, Smartlink,” Hang said.
The Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) has also begun collecting ATM fees. Tran Anh Tuan, General Director of BIDV, said that it is necessary to pay service fees if using services.
“Banks have made heavy investments and they need to collect fees to cover the expenses,” Tuan said.
He went on to say that foreign banks have been collecting fees for a long time, and the fees of those banks are much higher than those set by domestic banks.
However, the problem lies in the fact that no client was warned about the fee collection beforehand.
N.T, Chiem, a Vietcombank cardholder, said that he did not know about the commencement of the fee collection as there was no information posted around ATMs.
On January 20 in the morning, there was still no information about the fee collection on the official website of Vietcombank. A staff of Vietcombank’s card centre has confirmed this.
Dang Vy – Hoai Son – Kim Toan – Thai Phuong
Vietnamnet
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