sonlymewalter

So the Commonwealth bank reduced mortgage interest rates in Nov and December and our payments were the same so I finally rang them yesterday and asked why my interest payments hadn't gone down?

Commonwealth response - "we used to automatically reduce the interest rate in line with interest reduction but we had a lot of complaints so now we only reduce it when someone calls to ask for it to be reduced"

Me "really, so why at the beginning of last year did you reduce the interest paid on my mortgage automatically without me having to ring you?

Commonwealth "cos we changed it so that instead of changing it automatically, we let you pay the same so you pay more off your mortgage"

Me "Really? Nothing to do with keeping the interest savings within the bank and sod the customer? Why didn't you write to me and give me that choice?"

Commonwealth "it's better for you - you pay your motgage off quicker"

Me "its only better for me if I have the disposable income - with everything getting more expensive I may not have the choice. How much quicker?"

Commonwealth "about 3 years"

Me "well since I'll probably be dead by then anyway I'd rather benefit the $300 per month now thanks. I can always pay more in a few years when things start looking up"

Commonwealth "OK no probs I'll make sure your interest is reduced. And what about your Premium Platinum card we sent you? Would you like to activate it now?"

Me "what platinum card? I didn't order a Platinum card?"

Commonwealth "ahh that's because you are a good & loyal customer, we ordered it for you automatically"

Me "but I don't want it. If I wanted one I would ask for one"

Commonwealth "but it would cost you over $300 per year if you wanted to order one"

Me"but I don't want one"

Commonwealth "well you might as well cos next month we are charging you $350 for your low mortgage and for the credit card cos they both have benefits that cost you nothing"

Me "what benefits? and how is that "costing me nothing"?

Commonwealth "you get a 6.71% interest rate on your mortgage and free concierge service to the airport if you need it"

Me "but the 6.71% was agreed as my interest payment so why should I pay an annual fee for that priveledge? And I don't need a concierge service so the card is useless, a waste"

Commonwealth "the card is worth $300 per annum"

Me "but I don't want one. don't send me a Platinum card which costs $300 annually cos I don't need it. Instead cos I'm such a "good and loyal customer" how about you waiver the $350 fee for the priveledge of me paying you interest on my mortgage instead"

Commonwealth "can't do that - the fee is cos you pay a low interest"

Me "It's not the lowest and why should I pay an annual fee for paying interest to you each month? When the sun shines I don't mind the banks making money from me but when everyone is hurting it pisses me off the banks are screwing their "best and most loyal" customers into the ground. The Commonwealth made over SIX BILLION DOLLARS last year when the majority of their customers were crying in pain at the high cost of lving. The banks seem to be the only ones making money and it's an obsene amount. They should look after the people who are "loyal and good customers"

Commonwealth < awquard silence> "It was nearly Seven Billion. Is there anything else I can help you with today please?"

Me "yeh, if you get chance please feed back to the bank how poor their customer service is and for the first time in my mortgage history I will be shopping around and will move banks to somewhere where I don't pay an annual fee for the priveledge of paying interest to a bank for my mortgage"

end of conversation.....
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I shared this so if anyone else noticed your rates haven't gone down then this could be why. Yep I understand banks have to make money but paying them an annual fee of $350 for the priveledge of me paying them interest each month is daylight robbery

How does everyone else feel? Lots of companies I know are making concessions for their customers during these hard times. Have we rolled over for too long with these greedy banks or is it OK for them to earn BILLIONS in profit each year even during testing times and for them to keep screwing the very customers who are keeping them in business?

What do you think? Are they reasonable or unreasonable?

Dorothy

Excellent. So you've in effect ragged out some poor minimum wage call centre employee about something he/she has no control over.

Now, what were you saying about unreasonable?

sonlymewalter

Actually unlike you I was actually polite and we were very civil to each other. Of course the above is not a transcript so not everything we said has been covered, only the relevant bits I thought might be useful to others

If you were smart enough you'd know this

phat-dave

i dont even understand the thread (perhaps i cant read... lol)

what was even the problem - you were overcharged interest? or the minimum monthly repayment remained at a higher level whilst you were charged the lower interest amount, thus greater reduction of monthly interest being charged by the bank? (albeit you didn't specifically ask for this)

then youre clearly on a choice package deal where you get 0.x% off the standard variable rate+fee free transactional accounts + free platinum card for an agreed annual fee (generally first year is waived) and you throw it back at them saying you didn't ask for it?

lol

sonlymewalter

Interest charges were lowered by the bank - this option wasn't automatically passed on by the bank as had occured previously. I had to ask for it.

The fee charged per year was not part of my package deal.

Easy to understand really

ozzieeagle

Do you really think your going to die young ?

sonlymewalter

yes

ozzieeagle

Blimey I wouldnt be paying erm anything then

sonlymewalter

Good idea mate. might downsize and go live in Byron bay

renth

They used to charge me about $20 a month for my current account. Didn't take me long to move my accounts to HSBC where there are no fees.

Wendy

we had to pay a $350 fee for our mortgage account, except the first year was waived.

Also had to always ask if I wanted the payments to change if/when rates went down. I never did because I wanted to pay them off quicker (paid off cos now we've split I got more settlement )

That was also with the Commonwealth Bank - got our mortgage in 2007. So it's not that new that there's a fee and that they don't automatically decrease the payments.

phat-dave

youre talking about the monthly repayments, not interest charges.

the interest charges were reduced automatically but your minimum repayment had not... this means the bank was actually charging you less interest because you were paying more principle off.......

sonlymewalter

Cheers Renth, might look into HSBC

Nope. My interest charges were not reduced automatically. They should have been but they were not. That's my point.

bcworld

Isn't it the case that your repayments were not lowered?

The amount of interest was less than before, the principal you paid off was more?

That's what the whole conversation you had was about.

Tr1boy

It was always just as frustrating the other way. As serial savers and investors with no mortgage, we used to get annoyed when the interest rate would increase and we would not recieve the whole increase.

Not so much of a problem in the UK