ZB ZB
Live now
Start time
Playing for
End time
Listen live
Listen to NAME OF STATION
Up next
Listen live on
ZB

Tim Dower: Is having a bank account a human right?

Author
Tim Dower,
Publish Date
Tue, 23 Oct 2018, 7:30AM
You might even argue that giving them access to an ATM machine or the ability to rack up more debt would be irresponsible...reckless even. Photo / Getty Images

Tim Dower: Is having a bank account a human right?

Author
Tim Dower,
Publish Date
Tue, 23 Oct 2018, 7:30AM

Well, I told you my first reaction to the idea of a bank account being a human right, grass off now.

And when you read on and see it's driven by bankruptcy, it's easy to be a bit scornful of the idea.

Banks are businesses, and just like any retailer, they're not obliged to deal with you if they don't want to.

If you were a bank, why would you want to take someone on when they've got a track record of getting into trouble with money?

You might even argue that giving them access to an ATM machine or the ability to rack up more debt would be irresponsible...reckless even, both with your shareholders' money and with customer's future.

But what does it mean to be blocked out of the banking system?

The banking system is the money system these days. If you're not banked up and carded up, how do you function?

How do you get paid? I mean, apart from the odd shonky builder, who the hell gets paid in cash these days?

Are you supposed to carry a big wodge of cash around with you when you go shopping?

How do you pay your bills when most of the big utilities want direct debit or a direct credit from you. Even the phone companies, the power, your rates. Try getting IRD to give you a refund in cash.

Now I don't want to go down the cashless society track but we need to be very afraid of that.

However, think about it? how many EFTPOS or credit card transactions will you make today...3....5...10? And how many times will you use cash?

I don't necessarily think a bank account is a human right.

But the obligation to provide basic access to the money system, well there's no reason we can't make that a rule if you want to be a bank here.

But there's an even easier way to go about it when you have a state-owned bank. It's a job for KiwiBank.

Take your Radio, Podcasts and Music with you