Expense Account, Mint
Though I knew the extent of angst against banks as serial mis-sellers of financial products, I was a little surprised at the huge reach-out from readers after the column last week where I wrote about systematic cheating by banks (http://bit.ly/iffYbq) to collect fees and commissions on retail financial products. Apart from sharing stories of being lied to and cheated by banks, readers wrote in to get inputs on what sort of checklist should they ask the seller to sign off on. Of course, implicit in the request is the knowledge that regulatory action will be too little and too late. A specific request goes like this: “Could you make a simple checklist which we can use? We could simply print it out and have the relationship managers sign it when approached.” Says another reader on Twitter: “…practical suggestion—a simple carbon copy worksheet, where employees explain the workings of a scheme. Each retains a copy it can be signed by both. If there is a dispute, each can go back and refer.”