Bank Bali charges

Messrs. Smith, Taufiq, Menon and Tung, I empathize. But if it makes you feel any better, BCA is not the only bank to levy dubious and inexplicable charges on its U.S. dollar accounts.

Several colleagues and I opened Bank Bali dollar accounts at the Setiabudi Building branch in August in the wake of the currency crisis. Before opening the account, we asked exhaustive questions as to all applicable levies, and were told in no uncertain terms that no other charges apart from a US$1 administration fee would be applied monthly.

Upon subsequent receipt of our salaries, however, we found that the credited amounts were $10 short as compared to our salary statements. After a more exhaustive (and exhausting) questioning of the account officer, Bank Bali finally conceded that they applied a $10 charge simply for the "task" of receiving the money in our accounts.

On a separate inquiry, however, my colleague was told a different story -- that the fee is charged by a correspondent bank and not levied by Bank Bali. However, Bank Bali officers have not been able to provide any proof to date that this charge is indeed levied by the mysterious correspondent bank (we found out that our agent pays direct to Bank Bali, and that it already charges our employer $27 per employee for each transfer of funds in U.S. dollars). Of course, Bank Bali also gains by charging its customers a fee of over five percent on any U.S. dollar cash withdrawals (this must be a simplified version of the forced-to- buy-rupiah-to-buy-back-U.S. dollars ruse).

Conveniently (for the bank), there are no written terms and conditions that the customer may rely on. We merely sign a statement stating that we will comply with the terms and conditions as determined by the bank (whatever these may be and which are subject to change without prior notice) upon opening the account. What recourse then do bank customers have when levies are imposed contrary to (unenforceable) verbal assurances given by the bank's representatives?

It seems our fate then, as U.S. dollar account holders in Indonesia, to be at the bank's mercy when it comes to dubious charges, inconsistent policies, clueless bank employees and being ripped off. To add insult to injury, Bank Bali charges $5 to close your Bank Bali dollar account.

MY ONG

Jakarta