BCA dollar account

BCA dollar account

I read Moch Taufiq's letter with great sympathy (Oct. 7,
Dollar savings at BCA). I also hold a BCA dollar account and went
to withdraw some of my hard-earned U.S. dollars from the Kuningan
branch last week. I was also told that if I wanted to withdraw my
dollars, I had to pay the exchange rate from dollars to rupiah
then back to dollars again. Rather than accept this procedure, I
told the cashier to summon the manager and, when he arrived, I
demanded my money without any fees attached.

The manager then told me that I could in fact withdraw my
dollars without charge, but only US$2,000 at any one time. The
reason, he said apologetically, was that Bank Indonesia had
issued instructions in September that banks had to charge a fee
for all dollar withdrawals over $2,000.

I stuck to my guns and said that I wanted to withdraw my money
and not to pay any fees. At this point the manager backed down
and said that if I filled in two withdrawal slips (one for $2,000
and one for the remainder), I need not pay any charges.

I am appalled by this state of affairs. BCA prominently
advertises its U.S. dollar account but never mentions about these
fees when a customer opens such an account. If the BCA dollar
account is in fact a U.S. dollar account, then why can't I
withdraw my dollars after I have deposited them with BCA? If, as
the manager I spoke to said, there is a $2,000 limit on
withdrawals, why are they instructing their cashiers to extract
these unreasonable (and probably illegal) fees from their
customers who are withdrawing less than $2,000 from their
accounts? If Bank Indonesia is responsible for this "new" policy,
why did I have the same problem several months ago at BCA Duren
Tiga branch before any currency crisis arose?

BCA needs to understand that the money deposited with them is
not theirs, it belongs to their customers. They are entrusted
with this money and are able to make substantial profits from it
whilst they hold it. As it stands, I am preparing to close all my
accounts at BCA.

S.A. SMITH

Jakarta