Who controls fees banks can charge consumers?
I would like to know who has authority and oversight of the fees charged by the banks in Cayman. I suggest that you ask your readers about their experiences.
Auntie’s answer: I have not met anyone who is happy about the fees their bank charges. My particular pet peeve is being charged to withdraw cash from your own bank’s ATM as well as the add-on for using another bank’s machine.
While all retail banks (Category A) are registered and licensed by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA), it is not authorised to control banking fees, and makes that clear on its website’s FAQs.
CIMA is mandated, however, to “promote and enhance consumer protection”, the authority explained and has published a list of banking fees so people can “make informed decisions” about their banking transaction needs. The list is updated every quarter but you should note it does not include all banking fees.
Category: Ask Auntie, Misc Questions
There is a massive class action suit against the banks in the US about the use of debit/credit cards.
As a merchant, i am willing to accept as many forms of payment as a convenience to my customers.
A credit card, the bank assumes some risk as they are lending you the money (at a high rate) but ask that we as a merchant share that risk on a percentage basis. Here it is between 4% and 5% and routinely goes up without warning.
A debit card has ZERO risk. If there is no money in the account, the customer can not make a purchase. Unlike a check which can be fraudulently drawn.
Yet as a merchant, i pay exactly the same percentage amount for debit transactions as I do credit cards. I accept a risky $1000 check, it costs me between .25 and $1.00. I accept a ZERO risk debit transaction and it costs me $50.00.
Here’s hoping some young Caymanian lawyer takes this on here. They could become very very wealthy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payment_Card_Interchange_Fee_and_Merchant_Discount_Antitrust_Litigation
The savings accounts for my minor children have been drained by bank and gov’t fees that aren’t even supposed to be levied. It’s the wild west.
Only cartels and monopolies can get away with daylight robbery. CIMA really should step in and protect the consumers and limit fees. I don’t know another bank in the world that charges me to get online, or for surveillance of my account. Online costs them way less than having to provide staff, there should be much reduced fees. In Europe I pay 0.30 euro cents per transfer and Euro10 for international (non EU), and 1 euro maintenance per month. That is what it should cost here.
Bank robbers.
Bank? Robbers.
Punctuation doesn’t actually matter here.
So then the Banks must be controlling it’s own self .
You would have thought that that would have been the responsibility of CIMA , but it looks like when government would-be approached with that question, “who controls the Banking system” they will make the decision that another Authority Board is needed for that purpose . When this could have been done/handled by CIMA .
Is this how beuracy and corruption is started .
Some of those fees go to pay for staff uniforms but my bank 1 day out of 5 allow their staff to wear scruffy jeans & t shirts, the other days they have about 4 different styles / colour of uniform they can wear!
Government should bring back the Government saving Bank, at the Post Offices for Caymanian’s.
So who does control banking fees here??
The banks charge whatever they think they can get away with.
So everyone has to pay .25 in stamp duty for each ATM RECEIPT?????
30c if you are a Butterfield customer using one of their ATMs or using it to pay at a store .. upto 3$ if using another bank’s ATM or if abroad!
Butterfield bank:
“We’re going to charge you 2 dollars for online access fee + 2 dollar maintenance fee, per account, and in return provide you with not an iota of better service. Twiddle ur thumbs while you wait for the website to load.”
Thats the fees alone .. theres’s also Govt fees!
They also charge each account a monthly “Compliance Fee” of CI$2.00 whether there is activity on the account(s) or not!
I bank with RBC and every three months since the year began, they keep increasing my interest rate on my mortgage.
No one gets an increase in their pay every three months.
The banks do not control the interest rate movement on your mortgage. This is linked to US prime rate.
And why is this the case, basing a mortgage on another country’s prime lending rate? Just wondering.
People seem to forget a bank makes it money on fees. If you want a loan? There has to be ready income for them to lend you money that you pay back with interest which allows them to lend more money and pay their staff.
They lend your money out – have you forgotten about that?!
Put it under your mattress. You pay more fees than you get interest. Putting money in a bank is teh same as throwing it away
All of the world’s leading financial centres operate under the control of those country’s central bank (called by different names in different countries). The central bank acts as a clearing bank and sets interest rates which the retail banks have to follow.
That doesn’t happen here. Why not?
The worst fee EVER is the one that they charge ME to deposit MY money into their bank from an overseas bank draft or personal check from my family. MY MONEY!!!! Why should they charge ME for doing THEIR job???? Grrrrr
I have tried for several years to get people riled up enough to make a stink but the zombie sheep around here can’t be bothered or think they can’t make a difference.
I’m on board if something can be done. I just don’t know where to start.
Me too.
The zombie sheep don’t look at their statements, or don’t realise how much these fees add up to pr year!!
CNB is still better than the rest regarding fees.
i second your statement. Bank Of Burglars charges $5.00 to change a cheque if you don’t have an account with them. CNB charges $1.00
There is ZERO consumer protection on this island PERIOD!!
Although all bank fees in Cayman are excessive, it seems that as of late, Butterfield has gone fee crazy. Every single month Butterfield charges me the following and that does not include any sort of transaction fees,
* corp online fee – $10
* service charge – $6
* maintenance fee – $6
* compliance fee – $8
In the past, the banks used to incentivize you for using their online banking platform as this help them save money with tellers, etc. Now that they have got us all using the online banking platform, they have the audacity to charge a fee for doing so.
….and who says it isn’t legal to steal?
i would love to hear the explanation they give for that compliance fee.
The Banks are running amok, but the very worst fee of all is the exchange rate between US and CI..there is no reason or justification for the Banks to spread between .8 and .84…its robbery in broad daylight and they are laughing they’ve got away with it for so long….there should be a referendum on the CI-US exchange rate….the Country does not receive the spread, the Banks keep it….the value of the CI$ is based on nothing but history….if anything, we should either peg it as par to the US$, or remove it entirely out of circulation…there is no need for a CI$ dollar, there are no reserves of gold in any central bank that back it…it’s a nonsense…but the first thing that should be done is stop the .8-.84 spread that is draining money from citizens for no reason or justification apart from to enable local banks to build lovely headquarters.
The CI dollar is backed up with a $1.25 US in a CIMA account for every CI dollar that’s in circulation, thats why there is no devolution or fluctuation of the CI dollar!
Not surprisingly we’ll all the victims of the biggest thieves in Cayman – the very entities we have to trust our money to!!