Shocked by unauthorised debit in account

RECENTLY, I went to a petrol station to top up my car for RM50 and was advised by the attendant there to use my debit card, saying it would be more convenient.

I only had a balance of RM800 in my debit card account and I needed to use about RM750 to pay for my daughter’s kindergarten registration fees on the same day. But I used it as requested for the RM50 petrol top-up.

When I checked my account later, I was shocked to find that the bank had “deducted” RM200 from it and placed the amount under “hold” for three days. As a result, my available balance was just RM600.

I called the petrol station to ask about this and was informed by the owner that it is the policy imposed by all the banks whenever clients pay with debit cards at the pump.

Is this fair? What right have the banks and their merchants to impose this condition on their clients without our express authorisation?

In my case, I needed the money urgently to pay for my daughter’s kindergarten registration fees on the same day otherwise I would be forced to register her at another kindergarten far away from my house. This would cause me and my five-year-old child to incur extra financial expenses and stress for the next two years!

I then spoke to some bank officers who agreed with me that the policy was indeed not fair but they were unable to help me.

If a client buys a product for RM50, how can you deduct RM200 “temporarily” from his account to pay for it? Isn’t this practice tantamount to cheating and is blatantly unethical?

Luckily, I still had a sufficient balance in my other savings account to attend to my urgent matter. But what if I hadn’t, and I needed the money urgently to, say, put down the deposit for my child’s urgent medical treatment?

And what would happen if, because of this insensitive policy of the bank, my child’s condition becomes critical or she loses her life? I shudder to think of the possible tragedy and trauma, which would all be due to the banks’ pursuit of profits.

Sad to say, this is just one of the many unethical policies and practices which the banking “cartel” in our country could be guilty of.

For how long more will Bank Negara Malaysia continue to close an eye to all these heartless and selfish business tactics? It’s high time for some explanation and reassurance.