Hey bank, are you talking to me?!

I know the title of this article may sound funny or even pretentious but believe me, this is how I felt when I was recently contacted - twice - by my bank for an offer to show me how they (think, Ed.) care about me.

I won’t reveal the name of the bank because I strive to be a fair gentleman so I will just say that it is a Large European bank which presumes to be cutting edge on several fronts, especially on the customer engagement as well as the digitalization one … as practically all of them do though.

I bank with them on almost all the business lines they have since more than 10 years ago which means obviously a large set of information available for them to frame me.

Considering they are so innovative, and customer focused you would assume they should have been able to surprise me with a “a proposal you cannot refuse” right?

Well, I will leave it for you to decide at the end of this brief article. Let us start by saying that I also bank with Revolut as, travelling extensively, I got tired of being scalped at every single transaction and – believe it or not – intra bank cross border transfer.

I also use eToro to trade crypto because banks joined (or still have to) very late this train that – regardless you believe it in or not – is a new investment that every day more people a looking at, and since few year now.

And last but not least, the credit card with a 3rd party obviously as it seems banks are unwilling to offer fee free cards with incentives. The banks, although they have pretty much the full visibility of your finance, seems more eager to sell you phones or TVs instead of offering you a clever way of mutually handle your credit.

But let us focus on the highlight of this article. Last year I got a new car through a renting  contract (bad timing I know; today it is the best moment ever to get far better conditions probably …)  and during the recent COVID19 pandemic, I received 2 different mails – 2 months from each other – offering me the option to suspend the monthly quota.

Even if I have not solicited and, thankfully this terrible recent pandemic hasn’t affected – at least yet – our monthly income to trigger such offer, you may think: “That was nice anyway, come on”.

Well, again, you will be the final judge with all the facts in your hands.

Obviously if they sent me a communication a second time it reveals I have not accepted nor replied to the first email.

Shame on me. How could I refuse such an exciting offer to get the monthly fee quota suspended for 3 months, at the condition to automatically accept to extend the contract for additional 6 months at the very same existing conditions….

I don’t know what you would have thought if you would have been my shoes, but the reaction I had – both times – was the Robert De Niro one in "Taxi Driver": “Are you talking to me?!”