Banks ask too many questions from clients

Did you notice how banks now ask too many questions from their clients?
When you are depositing a check, they ask where the check came from, where you got the check, who gave it to you, if you know the person who issued the check. And that’s not enough, they ask why the person gave you the check.

I have credit card bills in dollars because I was in the US for more than a month. Of course I accumulated credit card charges. Notice how fast bills multiply. Dinner say $20, sweater $50, health care supplies $40, medicines $30 Uber $18, domestic airplane tickets $500, extra luggage $25, lunch $15, Uber again $12, etc. See? That’s $710 already.

I needed to pay the bills in dollars so I bought from a Central Bank authorized foreign exchange company recommended to me by my friends from the Philippine Chamber of Commerce. Nakabili na daw sila dun ng dollars pambayad rin ng mga credit card and travel pocket money nila. I deposited the payment to the forex company’s bank account in pesos. The bank asked me why I was depositing a check to that company’s bank account. They asked me what that company does. Ang pangalan ng company nila is ______Forex Corporation. Ibig sabihin nagpapalit sila ng dollars, obvious ba?

When I expressed my disgust over their new policy of interrogating the customers, the bank manager told me they just have to fill up a questionnaire and clients can give any answer. Ayun pala, pwedeng mag-imbento lang ng sagot eh bakit itatanong pa nila? Mag-aabala pa sila eh alam naman pala nila na kung-anu-ano lang ang pwedeng sabihin.

I told the bank manager that although I understand that there’s a conscious suspicion that some people’s money could come from selling of drugs or some payments could be payment for drugs. But first, ang liit lang nung amount. Kung bibili ba ako ng shabu pupunta ba ako sa banko para magbayad?
I told the bank manager that the questions they ask are very intrusive and invasive to people’s privacy. And the answer should be “it’s none of their business”. Yes there are a lot of drug dealers in our country. Yes, there are a lot of illegal money circulating. Define illegal? From illegal casino operators? Gambling operators? Corruption? Drug collections? You cannot presume and assume that every customer has a connection with any or all of the above. That is so unfair.

Ano, pag merong bibili ng condominium tatanungin ba nila kung saan galing ang pera nung buyers? “Wow, mam ser, dami nyong pera malaki ba drug collection nyo ngayon?”

I don’t know if all these intrusive questionings contribute to our country’s advancement and economic growth.