BCA services

I read with interest the letters from Mr. Taufiq and Mr. Smith regarding their experiences with their BCA dollar account. I await BCA's explanation as I too have had frustrating experiences with my BCA dollar account at the Menara Imperium branch office.

I opened the account a few months ago because I am obligated to transfer small sums of money overseas every month for some recurring payments. I chose BCA because I appreciated the convenience of their vast ATM network and its proximity to my office.

I too discovered that BCA does not allow its customers to get at their dollars easily. I was told that there is an administration charge of 0.125 percent plus a tax/fee of Rp 2,000 for a revenue stamp each time I would make a transfer. The rider here is that the administration charge is a minimum US$15 for all transfers below $12,000, which means practically everyone.

A second procedure involves checking the bank's dollar selling rate and then withdrawing the needed amount of rupiah via the ATM (using the BCA Dollar card) at of course a much lower rate. Then, I buy back dollars from the teller. This avoids the revenue stamp, but if the equivalent amount exceeds Rp 2 million, tough luck, as this is the card limit for a daily withdrawal. Obviously this is only a slight variation of Mr. Taufiq's and Mr. Smith's description of BCA's dollar withdrawal procedure.

For both procedures, a customer also has to pay a normal transfer charge of Rp 20,000. I have been using the ATM method since I lose less (around $11) and the revenue stamp is avoided. But I realize that if Mr. Smith could insist on withdrawing his dollars without paying any conversion rates or surcharge, it cannot be a government regulation but must be a discretionary (and discriminatory) ruse by the bank.

Can any of the readers suggest reliable local banks which do not discriminate between normal rupiah and dollar transactions? I will continue to maintain a rupiah account with BCA for the convenience of their ATM facility but want to close the BCA dollar account.

RAVI K. MENON

Jakarta