Disclaimers - A means of abuse

Every company has their disclaimer conditions stated in their contract. This is of course not an 'escape clause' for banks or any other corporation, since they are still required to act within the Corporations Act and the Trade Practices Act. But these laws are subject to interpretation, which requires court action. The court system of course has high cost barriers making justice outside the whelm of most bank customers. Are you likely to sue a bank, or just find another? Well I'm on my second, and I suspect the 4 majors realise that being the only banks in a position to offer 'full service' means you have people by the leash. Its collusion of the most worst kind.

Now we have a banking ombudsman just as we have a communications ombudsman, whose job is to answer cases of bank injustice. But this is really just a political facade intent on diminishing public angst about public discontent with banks. Having gone to the ombudsman over my issues with the CBA, it was apparent that their function is only to enforce bank contractual terms. Of course, given that the banks have such 'one-sided' agreements, do I have any recourse? You guessed it - zip! If you want justice you really have to sue the banks. But dont think it will change them. You might win the case, but they will win the war. Look how long it took parliament to legislate to get the banks to reduce their unreasonable charges on credit cards. Well you might wonder why that cozy monopoly persists? Its because banks are powerful. They buy a lot of advertising from the media, and they have the power to raise interest rates at opportune times.

Have you ever noticed that banks and a great many other corporations have 'one-sided' contractual agreements. The customer is considered to be a 'price taker'. Of course most businesses do not use the power that your signature on their contract has granted them. Why? Because they are worried about being subjected to public scrutiny and losing sales.

But banks act with absolute contempt for the public. Why? I think its because they can. The national banks in every country command a powerful position in the economy in the following sense:
1. The opinion of their CEO carries political power
2. They have a huge market share by virtue of being able to take over other banks because they existed first, so they have the economies of scale and comprewhensive service that some of us need.
3. Politicians like to be on the board of banks
4. Banks have a great deal of cash so they make great contributors to your political campaigns

The bigger is perhaps the legacy of the banks being concentrated in a very small market. We just dont have a good choice. A few years ago we got competition in the bank sector, but wisely those foreign banks focused on the commercial banking market because they lacked the branch network of the majors.