Don't Put Your Dollars at BDO

I just wish that many foreign banks will enter the Philippine market so that our local banks will provide better services to their depositors.  Consider this scenario:




Friend A, who is working in London asked me to deposit $10 in his dollar account in BDO to prevent his account from getting dormant. So to BDO I went and since I have no dollars laying around, I attempted to buy from BDO, but I was refused because they only sell dollars to those who will go on a trip overseas.  I did not make a fuss about that because a policy is a policy and I can see logic here.  Dollars should be used wisely and sparingly so that we would have a steady supply around us.  After that, I went to a money exchange who allowed me to buy $20 for P47.50 each dollar.  It seems that it's the only deal I can get, so I went for it.  

With $20 with me, I went to BDO to deposit it to my friend's account only to find out that the said account was already dormant and he has to appear personally to activate the account.  It seems that there is no other alternative to remedy this situation.  At this moment, I was already in exploding point.  How can this situation be solved? Why can't BDO offer an alternative process if the account holder is overseas?  


And here is another catch:  BDO actually deducts $5 monthly from a dollar account that is dormant.  Will somebody explain the logic to me here?  Aren't banks suppose to give incentives to depositors whose money is kept in the bank instead of withdrawing it?  Isn't it more advantageous to banks when depositors don't withdraw their money?  How come BDO deducts $5 and monthly at that?  I just don't know if it's the practice of all banks but I believe it is more advantageous to banks if they just give a little interest to depositors who keep their money in the bank instead of withdrawing it? After all, banks will only be giving a little amount from the interest when taxes are deducted from it.        

I don't know why the banking system is like that, but I pray that more and more international banks will enter our local market so that 'big-headed, arrogant banks' will have competition and banking services will improve, like for example faster transactions, higher interest rates for deposits, lower interests for loans and  etc.  

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