Exemption and reduction of money transaction fees is a solution that banks deploy to support customers
Diverse methods of payment along with promotions
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, people’s demand for online shopping is increasing day by day. According to representatives of some banks, transactions on e-banking platforms increased from 100 to 150% compared to previous years. That proves, cashless transactions are predominating significantly in banking transactions today.
In order to satisfy the demand for online transactions, banks have designed a variety of cashless transaction methods along with promotional programs. Many services such as: card registration, account maintenance, withdrawal, credit alert... are all free.
Not only that, many banks are also promoting free payment solutions and online transactions for people when performing transactions without going to the counter.
Notably, 4 public banks, namely Vietcombank, Agribank, VietinBank, and BIDV, all are implementing a policy of free transaction or zero fee when customers sign up for a service package to promote online payment, limiting the risk of infection in the difficult period of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in many localities.
Ms. Le Thi Thu Ha (Hue City) is a businesswoman, so transferring money inside and outside the system is a matter of daily routine. On average, she performs over 5 cashless transactions per day. If the fee were not exempted or reduced, on average, she would lose from 20 to 30 thousand VND for bank charge every day.
However, after registering for the B-Free Classic package, online transfer is free instead of losing 11,000 VND each time as the previous one.
“I just need to maintain an average balance from 3 million VND/month or the package fee/month excluding VAT of 20.000 VND to be exempted from 6 types of fees such as: online money transfer, Account Management Service charge, domestic debit card issuance fees, etc. This is much more economical than before,” said Ms. Ha.
For large-scale online businesses, the transaction amount is up to billions, even hundreds of billions, the transaction fee (internal and external transfer) is also up to millions of VND; then, the fee exemption and reduction help customers save a considerable amount of money.
Agribank implements many fee exemption and reduction programs for customers
Benefits in various ways
According to a BIDV representative, this B-Free package includes 5 types of small packages for customers to choose from: Basic, Classic, Gold, Diamond and Salary. When using the package, customers will be exempted from many fees such as: 100% free online money transfer fee, free account management/maintenance of BIDV SmartBanking service, free balance notification by OTT/SMS, free issuance and annual first year of domestic debit card/Platinum card, refund of domestic debit card withdrawal fee at ATM…
Not only applying to individual customers, this bank also waives all money transfer fees within the same BIDV system on e-banking platform for business customers.
Along with BIDV, recently, Agribank has also implemented many free charge policies to support customers.
Mr. Tran Dinh Khoai, Deputy Director of Thua Thien Hue Agribank, said that in order to encourage customers to use cashless payment services, and at the same time to support customers to overcome difficulties due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Agribank has implemented a policy of free domestic money transfer on all Agribank's e-banking platform.
Specifically, free of charge for money transactions within the same Agribank system for individual and institutional customers with payment accounts at Agribank applied on all channels of Agribank; free of charge for transferring money outside the Agribank system for individual customers with Agribank payment accounts on e-banking platforms: ATM, Agribank E-Mobile Banking, Internet Banking.
Joint stock commercial banks have also made transactions free as a way to increase competition. For example, Vietnam Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MSB) has launched a "super-free MSB" account package, which waives nearly 50 types of fee for customers with contactless transactions, including payments for essential products and services for people on ATMs, cards, Internet Banking, Mobile Banking...
According to a representative of the State Bank of Vienam, Thua Thien Hue branch, the current exemption of many types of banking fees helps customers significantly reduce monthly fee, especially for business and enterprise customers. On the bank's side, the free service will attract a large number of customers to use banking services, and at the same time promoting cashless transactions according to the Government's policy...
Story and photos: Hoang Loan