TESK Chairman Bendevi Palandöken stated in a written statement that the commission fees charged by banks are a great burden on citizens and tradesmen and said, “The measures regarding the registration of the economy within the scope of the decision of the Ministry of Finance are good. However, there is a problem in complying with these for both taxpayers and citizens. Banks also need to take responsibility. Otherwise, there is an EFT fee when you transfer your money from banks, when you send it to a relative, or when you send pocket money to your child who is studying. At the same time, there is a commission fee when you receive your own money from an ATM outside of working hours, without any uniformity of norms. “Public and private banks determine and collect a figure according to their own needs. This should have a floor and a ceiling. If I withdraw 5 thousand TL from my money, there is nothing, but if I withdraw 10 thousand TL, it is not fair to cut the commission.”
‘HIGH TRANSACTION FEES ARE ANNOYING’
Noting that the economic distress in the market is felt by everyone, banks should also take responsibility to support the public, Palandöken said, “Citizens who expect banking expenses to decrease with the increasing card use and digitalization today are faced with a different expense every day. At the branch, ATM and A fee is deducted from every transaction made electronically. Although efforts are made to encourage cardless transactions in the digital environment, a service fee is charged for these transactions. Likewise, no matter what you do in money transfer, EFT or internet banking, such a standard must be different. There is a difficulty when citizens receive their money, such as not being able to withdraw more than 80-100 TL or more than a certain limit. In the registered economy, this will be a little more difficult, since you cannot both transfer the money and pay it in cash in the same way, this time the limits will be determined. “As I said, it is not fair to charge these expenses when you deposit your money through the bank and send it to another branch of the same bank,” he said. Pointing out that the public should be supported, not a burden, Palandöken said, “Citizens should be warned about these issues. There should not be a different fee when collecting your pension, depositing and withdrawing money in normal daily life, and bringing it to your account from another branch. Therefore, if you take a taxi and bring that money to that branch, Maybe it won’t cost that much if you take it or if you go by public transportation, but unfortunately, on the one hand, you say that our work should be more practical, easier, and on the other hand, there is a burden on it. Now, the commissions should be at least up to 7 thousand liras. “When it comes to business, people will face a big problem when they use it in installments or for other alternative expenses. This should be prevented as soon as possible so that citizens should not be victimized by this,” he said.
