google

Hi,

I have an account with CBA but was not happy with its services so i switched over to another one, and left the account with a zero balance.

Today I received a statement from CBA which showed that the account has a $-5 balance, due to monthly account keeping fee.

My questions is, does it matter if i simply leave that account alone as I just don't wanna pay the bank sharks a cent for their sloppy services.

Will there be any serious negative impacts on me?
I mean, when i'm back home(out of australia), the bank will have no way of going after me right?


Thanks in advance.

Pootle

I would pay the $5 then close the account. When you transferred the money out you should have asked them to close the account. I agree the banks here aren't the best and they charge for everything, but if you just leave the account open then the costs will mount up..

google

Thanks for the quick reply. But so what? CBA will only be left with a debt it can never ever hope to collect when i'm back home. Well, we are talking about a small sum like 10 or maybe 20 bucks here, no a ton of money, in which case they'd chase you down even if it's a remote villiage in northeast Canada.

Pootle

Its your life - you live it as you see fit.
I would prefer to clear any debt small or otherwise, and whats the point of leaving it to mount up?

google

Agree, at least it gives you peace of mind.

ABCDiamond

The debt will be increasing every month, with the standard monthly charge and the additional unathorised overdraft fee ($40?) being debited each month. It will soon be hundreds of dollars, and will be recorded as a bad debt, which may cause problems if ever you return to the country.

I've seen people get caught like that, returning after 4-5 years. That's one of the reasons I choose a "No Fees" bank account here in Australia.

"unathorised overdraft fee's" vary between banks, but some are about $40-$50

gedge

We had some "friends" stay with us whilst they were backpacking through Oz & Nz. Unbeknown to us they used our address for everything, banks, ato, centrelink, both in Oz & Kiwiland. Fair enough, not much of a favour...

But then when they buggered off back to the UK we started getting letters and calls from the bank - overdrawn through charges; and from the tax offices - non payment of tax. So they do chase, and in some instances they may be told where to look.

Tiawamutu

I woudn't dream of leaving debt anywhere....however small the amount...

Best pay up and close it.

macy

Commonwealth Banks - Go in daylight and leave in the dark.
Longest Time spent in queue - 45 mins


Same thing happened to me, but I took great delight in going in and closing my account and told them exactly the reason why, well the queue of 50 people at the two open desks proved my point, I did laugh when she told me the queues were not always so bad as that and then proceeded to try and sell me life insurance!!!!

Ialibu

I also had this problem. I had also had a standing Bank Account deduction, never again.

Here is what I wrote to the company concerned with a cc to CTB after discussing it with them and after I had dealt with them extensively and shown then documentation but still they persisted, even to the point of threatening to give it to the debt collectors, that was the final straw. I have changed some of the names to protect the guilty:

"Commonwealth Bank Deductions

Dear Sir/Madam

In September/October 2004 I changed my Bank. On 5 November 2004 I emailed you asking for your Bank details as I was about to close that Account that your repayments were coming from and so wanted to change my deductions in an orderly manner. Your reply came on the 6 November 2004 so I immediately organised the XXXX Credit Union to commence deductions.

When I was informed by XXXX CU that the first such deduction was going through on 1st December 2004, I went to the Commonwealth Bank in Joondalup on 26 November 2004 and closed my account. I gave the Assistant Manager who dealt with my case express instructions to cease ALL deductions. I informed him what they were and he said that this account would close and stop everything.

In January 2005 I learnt that the Commonwealth Bank was still forwarding funds from what was now a dead account to ZZZZ Finance. So I sent an email to your firm informing them that this account was closed in November 2004 and that all “deductions” forwarded to ZZZZ since 1 December belonged to the Bank and should be returned to them as my normal deductions from the XXXX CU had commenced since then, so could a stop be made on these Commonwealth Bank deductions. I received no response to this email.

On 18Jan05, I tried to get the Commonwealth Bank to close this dead account and cease all transactions on it. They were about as responsive as my dealings with you earlier in Jan05 when I notified your office to cease these deductions.

Again on 6Mar05 I approached the Commonwealth Bank to stop these deductions as this account had been closed. This was as monumentally unsuccessful as my two earlier attempts to get some sense into what has become a stressful farce.

Today, I have spent another stressful ½ hour with the Commonwealth Bank yet again, trying to get them to do something, anything. I am no longer sure of what it is that I am required to do! I did all that society requires of me back in November 2004 by notifying all my contacts that the account was to be closed and changing over payments, then filling out the Commonwealth Bank’s own form for closing accounts. They are either unable or unwilling to recognise that the problem has been theirs since the day after 26Nov04. And according to the person I spoke to today at their 99 Queen Street Branch, it appears that NOONE in the Commonwealth Bank can close this Account and thus cease what is becoming mind boggling stupidity/incompetence or just obstinacy. I am not sure which.

In reflection, I find it rather surrealistic to deal with an organisation what can authorise payment of the sum of around $27m to an outgoing Chief Executive but cannot close a Bank Account when a Customer signs one of their own forms

Although a search of their Website http://www.commbank.com.au/default.asp reveals that the Commonwealth Bank do not have Standards Associations accreditation for their processes, so one has to wonder at the value of their Customer Forms when they take no notice of them themselves.

At this stage I have just about discounted my closure of this account at the Joondalup WA Branch on 26Nov04. There, I filled out the appropriate Commonwealth Bank form to close an account and paid out the outstanding balance. And, as stated above, expressly instructed the Assistant Manager to cease ALL deductions as I had made alternate arrangements. He, in turn, publicly cut up my various cards and informed me that I wouldn’t need these from here on in. As well, checking my Internet access 2 days later, I was denied access.

I took this as proof enough that this account was now closed.

The upshot of all this, as mentioned to you back in January 2005 and what should have been self evident since my email of 4Nov04, is that since 1 December 2004 when ZZZ Finance were receiving $aaaa a month from both the Commonwealth Bank and XXXX CU, that 1 payment was not supposed to have been made. My email in January 2005 informed you then that the Commonwealth funds were neither yours nor mine and thus you should refund them.

Now, I don’t know if this will reach those for whom it is intended but if it does, could someone please do what they were supposed to do back some more than 6 months ago and notify the Commonwealth Bank to cease this deduction from what used to be the account I had. How ZZZ handle the details of what the Commonwealth Bank paid to them when it clearly had no authority to do so and ZZZ kept accepting when it was pointed out to them that it was not theirs to retain, is not my problem.

I have done my bit again and want no more to do with this.

Yours

Denis Cxxxx
14Jul05

cc
The Manager
Commonwealth Bank
Level 3, 367 Collins Street
MELBOURNE VIC 3004
Attn: dddd
Fax 9675 1308"

That did the trick, CTB put through a journal entry reversing the debits they had gaily been posting to a dead account and it was finally closed. I haven't heard from them since August 2005 so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Have faith and keep hammering the bastards. Keep all the paperwork to back up what you have said and done.