Early this month I decided to take a last minute trip to Italy. I have had a very challenging year full of opportunity and growth and I was worn out from chasing said opportunity and growth. Despite all the work stuff pending, I still decided to go. You know why? On Whatsapp, I have this friends group, and on this group I have those friends who are always forwarding forwards of forwards of forwards. You know, like
You know, like
“Be the change you want to see in this world”,
“The older you get, the better you turn”,
“Somewhere in the world, it’s 5 o’clock” ….
You know those types of friends? And during this particularly vulnerable time, I got one that said “You cannot fill someone else’s cup when yours is empty”. Now on any normal day, I would delete this forward, but that day was not a normal day. I was tired and burned out. I needed to refill my cup. So I decided to take the trip.
The visa office. Ok, this is not a story about the visa office, but let me just digress to say this!!!! Going to the visa office can be a pain of magnificent proportions. No matter what you put in to support your application, they always tell you go to back to get some more. I had even called them before I went, and we went through the list of requirements and supporting documents I needed to apply, and they reassured me that I had everything, and when I got there what did they do? They sent me back to get more…. utter frustration.
Anyway back to the main story. So this particular time, they sent me back to get bank statements.
I had brought the ones from until last week, but they wanted for the few days since last week to today. Like 3 days. How does that even make a difference???
Anyway, since I was in a hurry, and the trip was planned for the week after, I shelved the questions and complaints. I rushed to the bank to get printed and certified bank statements. When I got there, I made my request, and here’s what they told me. They told me, that they could print the bank statements, but they would charge me 500 bob per page. As in 5 USD. Per page? Then, to certify, they would charge me 200 bob per page. Yes – 2 USD. Per page?! I was like, are they printing on paper made from the tears of Mary, Mother of Jesus.
These banks. Just the other day I saw their profit statements and they are making off like bandits. Of course they are! Because they are charging 500 bob to print a sheet of paper. This is all because of the Interest Rate Cap – true story (see blog here). Banks are finding all sorts of ways to raise revenues lost from not lending to risky SMEs.
I ended up printing the bank statements myself (losing a day of visa processing and a day of the trip), taking the fall to get them certified and eventually secured the visa (which incidentally was the best Schengen visa yet – 2 year multiple entry). I went for what ended up being a great trip, gained about 2 kgs, but also gained rest, reflection and renewed zeal for more growth and opportunity. But those bank fees, that was an eye opener. Now that the Interest Rate Cap has been repealed, will the fees go down? Are we looking at sticky prices? Let’s watch and see.
Have you ever been hit with exorbitant bank fees? I would love to hear your story in the comments below.
