BCR Charges Debit Card
Fee Without Advising
Customers
A new Banco de costa
Rica (BCR) policy has
taken many of its
customers by surprise -
the bank is now charging
us$5 per year for the
use of its debit card.
The policy went into
force at the beginning
of the year, but only in
the last week did the
fee start showing on
customer accounts.
Many BCR customers were
surprised to have their
account debited ¢2.500
colones on colones
account and us$5 on
dollar accounts, in some
cases sending the
account into a negative
balance or the bank
waiting for the customer
to make a deposit so it
could charge the
commission.
The bank will now charge
the fee on an annual
basis and is estimated
to have increased its
annual revenue by at
least ¢3 billion colones
taking into account that
the bank has more than
1.2 million debit cards
issued.
Customers did not have a
chance to react to the
change, as the bank took
it upon itself to
introduce the fee and
charge the customer's
account without notice.
The bank, to compensate
its customers, is
offering an insurance
policy against theft of
the debit card. However,
customers have to ask
for the policy, it is
not applied
automatically. |
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