Any comments on this article? Personally I feel there is something seriously wrong and something needs to be done about the issue.
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GIRO DEDUCTION WITH NO APPROVAL
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Why does MAS allow practice by banks, insurers?
IN April, I received a call from a DBS Bank telemarketer who wanted to sell me an insurance policy offered by Aviva.
I told her to send me the forms and brochures and that if I was interested, I would sign up for the policy.
After receiving and reading the brochures, I decided not to sign up. I thought nothing of it.
But on July 7, I checked my bank statement and realised that there was an unauthorised inter-bank Giro (IBG) deduction from my POSBank account for an Aviva insurance policy that I had never agreed to buy.
I called the bank and was referred to Aviva.
The woman who answered said the form sent to me had indicated that if I did not reply to reject the offer within 14 days, it would be considered accepted.
This is the first time I have heard of this sort of acceptance method being used for a legally-binding agreement.
After an argument, she agreed to refund the amount they had deducted.
What puzzles me is how the bank could have processed the IBG transaction when I had never signed an authorisation form of any kind.
How can the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) allow this kind of arrangement between banks and insurance companies?
I hope the relevant authorities will review and regulate such practices.
Yap Ee Hoe
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=====================================================
GIRO DEDUCTION WITH NO APPROVAL
-------------------------------
Why does MAS allow practice by banks, insurers?
IN April, I received a call from a DBS Bank telemarketer who wanted to sell me an insurance policy offered by Aviva.
I told her to send me the forms and brochures and that if I was interested, I would sign up for the policy.
After receiving and reading the brochures, I decided not to sign up. I thought nothing of it.
But on July 7, I checked my bank statement and realised that there was an unauthorised inter-bank Giro (IBG) deduction from my POSBank account for an Aviva insurance policy that I had never agreed to buy.
I called the bank and was referred to Aviva.
The woman who answered said the form sent to me had indicated that if I did not reply to reject the offer within 14 days, it would be considered accepted.
This is the first time I have heard of this sort of acceptance method being used for a legally-binding agreement.
After an argument, she agreed to refund the amount they had deducted.
What puzzles me is how the bank could have processed the IBG transaction when I had never signed an authorisation form of any kind.
How can the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) allow this kind of arrangement between banks and insurance companies?
I hope the relevant authorities will review and regulate such practices.
Yap Ee Hoe
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