Recently I deposited a cheque from a US client into my US funds account. I then immediately transferred a portion of that deposit into my current account which is in Canadian dollars.

Two interesting things happen.

First, the bank was unable to guarantee an exchange rate from US to Canadian funds. It seems that there is variation over the course of the day based on when “they” transfer the funds. I have learned that this is also the case when transferring funds online. Of interest, if I had withdrawn the funds and then deposited them into the Canadian account, I could have gotten a guaranteed rate posted for that day, although I did not compare the rates (something for another day).

Secondly, I was charged interest for being overdrawn on my US account because the funds I transferred into the US account were not cleared into my US account until 1 business day after the deposit. Although I have no overdraft facility built into the US account and at no time was the total account overdrawn or was any funds removed from any of the accounts.

In both cases I was left feeling the Bank was uninterested in my needs and was simply looking for ways to pad their own revenue.

My Perspective: Banks have a reputation for masking fees and charging fees that don’t make sense. This contributes to the poor customer experience and provides a point of differentiation for those that offer clearer understanding of their fees.

Have you reviewed your own fee and pricing structures lately? Make sure that your fees are based on value delivered and the value clearly communicated to your customers. Too often our fees are arrived at from a cost replacement model focused on our revenue and not viewed from a customer perspective.

When the value is clear, your customers are less likely to comparison price shop.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 7:11 am and is filed under Communication, Customer Experience Stories, Customer-Focus, Tips and Techniques. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.