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