Story time. A few weeks back I was sitting in AMW’s garage waiting for an invoice for a repair on my car.
While I was sitting there, there was an old guy there in pant straps sitting next to me. I hadn’t seen pant straps in a while. That is probably the reason I even remember this story.
So this guy was also trying to pay for a repair as well but he hadn’t brought enough money. So he was saying he could give them a personal cheque but the cashier wouldn’t take those. Only cash or credit card she said. Then the old guy says “I was the governor of the central bank you know …” smiled and sat down.
In his day a personal cheque would have been good as gold.
Times have changed. I don’t think anyone in Sri Lanka now accepts personal cheques as payment for immediate goods. I mean you could pay a bill or something but you can’t take your goods until it becomes cash.
There is zero trust because people bounce cheques all the time. When one bank kicks you out there are a half a dozen more to take you in. When one company fails you just shut down and make another. There is no credibility, trust or honor in business or individuals.
When I’m looking to buy a long term product or service I wonder if that company will be there in 5 or 10 years to honor my guarantee.
Fix this if you want to move ahead and do ‘good business’.
Somebody once wanted to know why local cheques lacked anything but the most basic security features. Nobody bothers forging cheques – a-because they they are not widely accepted , b-because its as easy to pass on your OWN dud cheques as forge someone elses.
Try ‘DIMO’ for an example, they’ve been around for over 70 years and practice very good standards
And the icing on the cake is that to have a current account without all those fees, most banks require a minimum balance of Rs. 10000 that bears no interest. If you know one that doesn’t have such a minimum balance requirement, let me know!
Rukmal I haven’t seen current/checking accounts with interest here yet. It’ll be another first if someone does it.
I think what Rukmal means is that unless one maintains a minimum balance of Rs.10,000 they charge a service fee.
Rukmal, try the Bank of Ceylon, their service is not bad and I’m sure the charges reasonable. For the BEST service try NDB, charges are also reasonable. NTB service is a good second to NDB.