Unfair conversion rate

Dear Mr. Tan,
I am a customer of a bank and responded to their RMB timed deposit promotion, which pays an interest slightly above norm. The bank converted my existing savings in SGD into RMB at their "internal exchange rate" at 36 pips above market rate and did not get my prior approval to the conversion or provided any documentation of the transaction. Is this transaction fair to the consumer and is this valid?

REPLY
It is not fair for the bank to convert your money at their exchange rate without getting your agreement to the rate. Here are the steps that you can take:

1. You can write a letter of complaint to the CEO of the bank giving your account of what has happened and why you felt that you were not fairly treated, i.e. if you were told about the conversion rate, you would not have placed the deposit. You can ask them to reduce the spread from 36 pips to say 10 pips or whatever you consider to be a fair rate.

2. If you do not get a satisfactory reply, you can lodge a complaint with FIDREC. See www.fidrec.com.sg for the process. You can also pay $50 to FISCA (www.fisca.sg) for someone to help you to write the complaint.

3. You can also consider writing a letter to the newspaper.