A cautionary bankster tale

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Maybank told me that I could always check the account by using the ATM. And that's true if I want to leave the house, get in the car, drive to the nearest Maybank and check away. So I told them it was easier to change banks.

Maybe they have lost out to other banks. Anyway CIMB has a passbook savings account so I opened an account there. And the minimum balance needed to avoid charges is a lot lower than Maybank. Maybank wants RM500. At CIMB it either RM20 or thereabouts. Or it was when I last checked.

Don't like the sound of this RM500 charge.  Is this some kind of yearly maintenance charge?  We had no mention from Maybank about bank charges, minimum amounts.  No doubt there will be some little surprises for us later.  We did get internet access.  The functionality seems to be somewhat limited if you have a passbook.  You can check your balance but cannot pull up a statement online.  You can do transfers online to other banks in Malaysia - or at least that's what it says, have not tried it out yet.

We updated our passbook at the end of the week and there were 3 small charges - RM 8 + 8 + 10, which we presume covers opening of account, 2 ATM cards and internet access.

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When I received my MM2H Visa a few years ago I opened my Fixed Deposit at Standard Charter Bank in Kl. I explained to my agent and the bank official that I would be living in Penang. I asked if there were convenient branches and ATM's. I was assured that there were. Once I moved to Penang I found this to be totally false. There was only the main branch in city center, which was a long distance from my condo. It took me about 2 weeks to open an online banking account, but when I did I found out that foreigners cannot pay bills on line or transfer money. In other words it was useless. I had to visit the bank twice when I was in the process of purchasing my condo. Each time it took over 2 hours to withdraw MY money and the tellers were as rude as they could possibly be. The last time I visited I withdrew the remainder of my money, except for the FD, and opened an account with CIMB. I can do just about everything on line. I find CIMB to be very convenient and customer friendly.

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hi,

Don't like the sound of this RM500 charge.  Is this some kind of yearly maintenance charge?

The RM500 is the amount that is needed to be kept in the account to avoid a monthly service charge.

You'll have to check this as I dumped the Maybank account several months ago so I'm not up-to-date.

Another reason was that my nearest Maybank branch had a counter for "special" customers. I asked about this and was told that you needed so much in your account, which I had, but that this facility had now been cancelled.

So why the special counter, which often had 1 or no customers, whilst the other 2 counters always had queues?

Answer, "because we still have "special" customers."
Next Question, "so you're waiting for them to die off."
Answer, "giggle, giggle."

After 5 years of this I just got tired of standing in Maybank and shuffling along in a queue. 

I guess it's up to the branch manager. The one in this Maybank seldom seemed to be around.

I also tried to get hold of a copy of an FD that I had with Maybank 3 years ago. At the time I'd misplaced my own copy. Maybank just didn't want to know, no help, sorry we don't have copies, why don't you look for it again, we don't keep records (?) from 3 years ago, goodbye.

I also find CIMB quicker, more convenient and very pleasant. The nearest branch is very good, and the manager visible. Last year, when in Portugal, I sent a letter to the manager asking for changes in some FD's. It was done and the certificates to be held by the bank pending my sometime return. Some 7 months later I walk into the bank, a staff member noticed me and walked over with the certificates. She'd been keeping them specially. Wow.

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When I received my MM2H Visa a few years ago I opened my Fixed Deposit at Standard Charter Bank in Kl.

Thanks steveso - I think I remember you mentioning about Std Chartered in Penang before.  It's all down to individual banks of course.  I have accounts with Std Chartered in Singapore and they operate well and can do pretty much everything I want to do on the internet.  Conversely, I used to have a "premier" account with HSBC Singapore (and just about everyone on here raves about HSBC) and that branch in Singapore was truly awful.  You wouldn't believe the mistakes they made.

Anyway, it's in the memory bank about St Chtd Penang and CIMB.  Still hoping we won't have to open accounts with HSBC or Std Chtd if we can get the right noises out of one of our Thai banks.  Early days yet.

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I found out that foreigners cannot pay bills on line or transfer money.

Steveso's above remark on Standard Chartered Bank needs to be corrected:

1) Foerigners i.e. those whose accounts are designated as "non-resident" by Std. Chartered, have always had the ability to pay bills to local service providers using their online internet banking service. However, the list of service providers is not as expansive as those of other banks' e.g. HSBC or CIMB

2) For the past 20 years or more, ALL foreign banks disallowed the use of interbank transfers via internet for non-resident accounts. I have complained vehemently to both HSBC & Std. Chartered about this restriction with no success. They all claimed that this was due to Bank Negara's ruling for foreign banks. Last month, however, I accidently found out this restriction has been discontinued by Standard Chartered, although they inexplicably failed to inform their non-resident account holders about this very useful facility.

3) CIMB does not have this restriction for foreigners. I don't know about Maybank or other Malaysian banks.

I too find that that the quality of personal service does vary from bank to bank and also from branch to branch. In general, I have found CIMB to be great whilst HSBC & Std Chrtd priority/preferred customers also get very good service. Maybank's service is invariably the pits.

The minimum level of funds required to maintain priority customer status varies from MYR 125k (CIMB) to 300k (HSBC). I find the lower level quite acceptable as it is below the 150k MM2H FD requirement - unfortunately mine is stuck with Std Chrtd & transferring FD's is too much of a hassle as it requires the explicit approval of Immigration Dept.

Finally, no Malaysian banks offers an interest-bearing, on-call (current) account with interest rates comparable to FD's, unlike many banks in Australia. The closest was Std Chrtd's e-Saver account which used to offer interest rates about 1/2% pa below the 3-month FD rate but no longer does so. The current rate for the 1st MYR 100k is only 0.5%, but it is still higher than anything offered by the other banks.

I think the Malaysian banking scene needs a thorough shaking up to come to terms with those in developed countries.

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Thank you for clarifying that information for me. When I did however, ask specifically if I could pay bills, I was told "no", "not for foreigners". I believe you are correct when you say the quality of service varies from bank to bank. Well I consider it another lesson learned.

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No problems, Steveso.

I agree with your general assessment on CIMB being the overall top service provider, mainly for their extensive network of branches, reasonably good online service (not as good as HSBC's, though), ability to move funds seamlessly to & from my stock trading account with CIMB Investment Bank, & extremely responsive Customer Relationship Managers.

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You seem to have a good deal of experience at CIMB with investments. How do you find their invest products? I have researched unit funds offered by CIMB and other banks and found them to be quite competitive. What do you think.

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Hi Stevso

Sorry, I've no experience with unit trust or other fund investments with CIMB or other Malaysian banks. I invest directly in Malaysian shares on the Bursa  & do my own investment research.

My past experience with fund managers has not been a good one as they've all failed to match the standard stock indices and, worse of all, my own stock selections.

The great advantage of stock investment in Malaysia is:

1) easy to open accounts with any stock broker;
2) ease of fund movements if one's stock broker is owned by a major bank;
3) free live stock prices provided by most stock brokers;
4) direct internet trading i.e. by-passing handling by any intermediary;
5) plentiful share market research provided freely by various broking houses & also on the Bursa website;
6) plenty of websites/blogs where stock tips are discussed;
7) most importantly, free historical pricing data & charting facilities readily available on the net.

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Thanks for the information.

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CIMB mentioned a lot on this thread.  I've got some questions but I'll start a new thread for tidyness sake