Thursday, August 30, 2012

Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI)

I have been a depositor of the Bank of Philippine Islands with a regular atm savings account for more than a decade. And twice in that span of 10 years, I have had my check deposit not clear on time because some human failed to check the deposit bin of an atm machine. It was a major hassle at the time, but looking back, considering the length of time I've been with the bank, I consider that a mere glitch in their system.

If anything, one major irritant with BPI is their atm service. Unlike other banks where they have interconnected atm machines, BPI maintains the policy of BPI atm cards working solely on BPI atm machines. BPI is not Bancnet, not Megalink. BPI is just BPI.

Well, if you are going to insist on that policy you better make sure you have the resources to back it up. In fairness to BPI, they are trying. Within one kilometer of where I live, there are two BPI branches and 6 BPI atm machines between them. Come near payday however, 6 BPI atm machines usually come down to 2 working BPI atm machines. Queue would be up to an hour when it is a Friday payday before a long weekend. As a long-time BPI depositor, I've learned to avoid these days.

On the plus side, BPI supports a lot of internet/mobile payment methods that I even care to try. I haven't tried bills payment via the internet, because I like the excuse of needing to go to the mall once in a while. What I have done however is link my Smart Money card to my BPI bank account, this way I can reload my Smart prepaid phone and internet services via mobile banking. Now that's a major convenience.

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