Dear Customer, Allow Me to Shaft You

Just got this with my RHB My1 Current Account statement today:

Important Notice to RHB MY1 Account Holders

Dear Valued RHB My1 Account Holders,

Due to the large numbers of you with less than the necessary amount in your My1 Accounts, we have decided upon a move whereby we could earn more from what is becoming a non-profitable service.

The RM10 half-yearly fee will be discontinued for accounts with less than RM1,000. Instead, we will charge RM5 every month for accounts with a daily balance of less than RM5,000. Accounts with more than RM5,000 will not be charged this amount.

So, instead of RM20 per annum, I have to fork out RM60 for treating my My1 premium current account as a two-bit, run-of-the-mill current account. Since my deposits will never reach RM1,000, there's no other way out. I'm also sure that there could be another hidden charge somewhere.

You see, with the number of people treating this premium service as a two-bit current account, we feel that some form of mitigation-cum-encouragement measure is necessary to: a) squeeze you a bit for your craven treatment of the My1 Account facility and b) encourage you to use this facility as it is meant to be used.

We hope you would understand the circumstances that led to us implementing such a measure, and bear with us while you think it over and realise that we are right, and that there is nothing you can do about it, being bound by the terms and conditions for using the said facility.

For more information, refer to the nicely worded numbers at the bottom of this notice.

Thank you.

OK, that was not exactly what I got in the mail, but the meaning is there. I took the time to read it and run the numbers through my head - twice.

RM60 per year may not sound like much, but I have another savings account with RHB. That money isn't just sitting idle there; they can take part or all of it and invest it somewhere. That's part of the deal, and they'd be dumb not to. Yet it's still not enough for them. Their service is slightly better, but come on...!