Okay, I’m Angry
Commbank chief Matt Comyn is sorry …
He’s sorry his insurance guys ripped off terminally ill parents who took out life insurance with the bank.
He’s sorry his financial advisors ripped off retirees for millions of dollars with fraudulent advice.
He’s sorry the bank ripped off dead customers, by charging advice fees for no service.
He’s sorry the bank lost 20 million customer statements, and didn’t bother telling those affected.
And now he’s sorry that his bank teller staff scammed school kids’ Dollarmites accounts.
You’ve got to hand it to the CBA, their fraud has a kind of … circle of life to it, right?
This week we learned that thousands of children’s Dollarmites accounts were fraudulently manipulated by CBA staff, so they could earn bonuses and meet aggressive sales targets.
Hang on a minute:
Why would the bank link sales incentives to those cute-looking little Dollarmite accounts?
Because their Dollarmites program is easily the most successful marketing campaign in Australian history. In fact, one analyst has suggested Dollarmites was worth an astounding $10 billion to the bank.
How?
Simple. The CBA pays schools a token kickback for signing up students. Yet it’s chicken feed for acquiring a long-term customer. Especially when Choice magazine says that close to half of those Dollarmites end up staying with the CBA.
For well over a decade I’ve been calling out the Dollarmites program. Australia’s largest issuer of credit cards teaching kids about money is like Ronald McDonald teaching kids about nutrition.
Besides, the Dollarmite Youthsaver accounts terms and conditions are rubbish. Parents would be better off saving for their kids in a high interest online savings account, and throwing their edu-marketing in the bin.
Look, I’ve dedicated my life to delivering independent financial education, and I can tell you that kids don’t learn much from the Dollarmites cute cartoon mascots like ‘Cred’, who rides a skateboard and is ‘a real cool dude’. Rather, it’s when Cred morphs into a credit card, and is mailed out to fresh-faced 18 year old cool dudes, that their real education begins.
There are well over five hundred thousand kids who are unwittingly enrolled into the CBA’s marketing database.
As parents, it’s time for us to tell the Commbank that their sleazy circle of life has to stop right now.
It’s time to ban Commbank from our classrooms.
Sorry, not sorry.
Tread Your Own Path!
