StanChart wrongly charges customers fall-below fee; refunds to be made
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SINGAPORE — Some Standard Chartered Bank customers received an unpleasant surprise on Thursday (June 1) when they were mistakenly charged a fall-below fee.
One affected customer, Dr Alex Wee, 44, told TODAY that he had noticed the S$10 charge on Thursday after glancing at his account statement.
Phoning the bank to enquire about the fee soon after, the general practitioner added: “They immediately knew what I was talking about, because according to (the customer service officer), she had attended to four or five cases this morning alone.”
Dr Wee, who has had the account for more than five years, said this was the first time such an incident has happened.
According to the bank’s website, a fall-below fee is an “administrative fee” charged when a client’s deposit balance goes below “the minimum average daily balance” stipulated for the account.
In response to TODAY’s queries, a Standard Chartered spokesperson said the bank had detected that some of its e$aver online savings accounts had been charged an “erroneous fall-below fee”. However, the bank did not disclose how many customers had been hit, nor did it specify the erroneous amount customers were charged.
The bank added that all affected accounts would have the amount refunded by Thursday.
“We apologise to affected clients for any inconvenience caused,” the spokesperson said, adding that there was “no financial impact” to customers.
