Warning : Bank Stole Our Money

I happened to cross upon another personal financial website call imDavidLee.com today. I am particularly interested on how he expresses his discontent over Maybank fees and charges.

For your information, banking is a business. So, they will be charging as for every single service that they provide us, generally that is how they made money. Even government-based bank like Bank Simpanan National also would charge us fees for their service, it is just expected that privatized bank would do so, passionately.

There is nothing we can do about it. We are weak and they are strong, so what can we do? Just pay them, right? How about we use our financially wise mind and manipulate their system instead? How? First, you need to know what they are charging us.

Below is the compilation of bank fees and charges for ATM activity from bank in Malaysia:

Banking Institution	Automated Teller Machine (ATM) Card Fee (RM)
	Card issuance	Annual fee	Card replacement	Withdrawal via PLUS/CIRRUS Network
Affin Bank Berhad	RM10	RM8	RM10	a) RM7 - Debit Card via Cirrus Network only b) 5% of amount withdrawn or a minimum of RM20 - Credit Card via PLUS/CIRRUS Network
Alliance Bank Malaysia Berhad	RM8	RM8	RM12	RM8
AmBank (M) Berhad	NIL	NIL	RM12	RM12
Bangkok Bank Berhad	NIL	NIL	NIL	NIL
Bank of America Malaysia Berhad	NIL	NIL	NIL	NIL
Bank of China (Malaysia) Berhad	NIL	NIL	NIL	NIL
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (Malaysia) Berhad	NIL	NIL	NIL	NIL
CIMB Bank Berhad	NIL	RM8	RM12
Citibank Berhad	RM8 (free for Citigold members)	NIL	RM8 (lost, stolen, damaged) Free for Citigold members	RM10
Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Berhad	NIL	NIL	NIL	NIL
EON Bank Berhad	NIL	RM8	RM10	NIL
Hong Leong Bank Berhad	RM8	RM8/RM5 (applicable for Hong Leong Smartlink Account only)	a) RM20 for damage due to cardholder's fault, PIN forgotten and lost/stolen b) RM12 for MEPS Cash refund purpose	NIL
HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad	RM8	RM8	RM12	RM10
J.P. Morgan Chase Bank Berhad	NIL	NIL	NIL	NIL
Malayan Banking Berhad	a) Free - First 4 transactions b) RM0.50 per transaction (thereafter)	NIL	RM12	NIL
OCBC Bank (Malaysia) Berhad	RM8	NIL	RM8	RM12
Public Bank Berhad	RM8	RM8	RM12	NIL
Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Berhad	NIL	RM8	RM8	a) 1% of amount withdrawn or a minimum of RM30 + RM0.15 (stamp duty) - interzone withdrawal (for Singapore & Brunei only) b) RM12 - Overseas withdrawal
The Bank of Nova Scotia Berhad	NIL	NIL	NIL	NIL
The Royal Bank of Scotland Berhad	RM8	RM8	RM12	NIL
United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Berhad	NIL	RM8	RM8	RM10

As you can see, all bank will charge you one way or another. They give you free card issuance, then they charges your sky-high on withdrawal thru PLUS Network (AmBank). When they have no charge on the withdrawal thru PLUS, they charge extra on transaction (Maybank). If they do not charge at all for ATM transaction, they start to charge for annual fees (CiMB). No matter how you look at it, they will try to charge you.

Now let's see how we can turn the table. For my personal example, I used Maybank like, all the time. This is because my salary will go to Maybank, so might as well I used their service for my financial transaction. Knowing in deeply how Maybank charge me, this is what I did to manipulate their own system to my own good:

1. Since I have my budget tracking to the very detail, I know exactly how much cash I need every month. So, early of the month, I will make 1 time withdrawal on all the cash I need and then keep it at my house. No more $0.50 charge after 4th time transaction.
2. I used online services at Maybank2U (M2U), so that I will minimized the ATM transaction.
3. I pay bill through M2U too, since they do not charge anything for bill payment.
4. I consolidate my loans and credit cards, so that I do only 1 Interbank-GIRO transaction per month. The most they got from me is the $2 charge for that 1 Interbank-GIRO transactions.

So, that are just some of the example that you can do in order not to lose your money through banking fees and charges. Main point, be knowledgeable. If you know more than your bank do, then you could out-wit them. Check out the compilation above and see which bank best work for your financial activities.