Employees, Managers, Executives of Credit Institutions and Foreign Bank Branches Are Not Allowed to Disclose the Organization's Business Secrets

According to the regulations, with the above provisions, the standard contract will become invalid. However, considering some issuance contracts or general transaction conditions published on the websites of some commercial banks, it shows serious violations of the provisions of law related to the protection of consumer rights. For example, in the conditions and terms of issuance and use of debit cards issued by BIDV, some provisions may infringe on consumer rights such as: in Article 3: Fees for issuance and use of Card

“1. BIDV automatically debits the Card Linked Account and/or Other Accounts with fees, including but not limited to : Annual Fee; Transaction Fee; Foreign Currency Conversion Fee; Value Added Service Fee. If the balance in the Card Linked Account does not guarantee the fee payment obligation, BIDV will automatically debit the above fees from the Cardholder's other Account(s) opened at BIDV.”

The above regulation can easily make the signing party bound to additional fees that are not listed in the contract and it is not clear where those fees can be updated. The proposed amendment is as follows: Remove this phrase ( including but not limited to ); amend in the direction of listing specifically (using the phrase "including") or provide specific, clear regulations and list examples (using the phrase "for example") and stipulate in the direction that customers are obliged to pay fees and costs listed at the transaction counter or publicly announced on the Bank's website in accordance with the provisions of law. [13] Or as in Article 4, Clause 2, it is stipulated:

2. Cardholder's obligations

a) Provide complete and accurate information as required by BIDV when requesting issuance.

card issuance and during card use. Notify BIDV immediately of any changes in personal information. Or as Article 5 immediately thereafter stipulates:

1. Rights of BIDV

a) Collect information about the Cardholder from other organizations and/or individuals or request the Cardholder to provide complete information and necessary documents during the process of issuing and using the Card.

b, Record, store and use the Cardholder's verbal information/instructions.

c) Provide information about Cardholder/Card Account/Transaction to organizations and individuals as prescribed by law and Card Organization.

With this regulation, the rights of consumers to protect their information will be easily violated because there is no restriction on the collection and use of personal information for what purposes, and what is necessary information and documents?

Or as in the general transaction terms applicable to MB debit cards, the provisions in Articles 2 and 3 also violate the information security rights of consumers:

“MB agrees to have full authority to use information related to cardholders at MB and provide it to authorized third parties according to MB's regulations or the provisions of law.”

(MB has the right to) “Collect information from other individuals and organizations about the cardholder when receiving a request for card issuance from the cardholder;”

Pursuant to the provisions of the Law on Consumer Protection, banks must specify and specify the purpose of requesting customers to provide information and use customer information for purposes within the scope of the contract with consumers. Information shall only be shared with third parties with the customer's consent. [21]. In the Law on Credit Institutions 2010, Article 14 on Information Confidentiality also stipulates:

1. Employees, managers and operators of credit institutions and foreign bank branches are not allowed to disclose business secrets of credit institutions and foreign bank branches.

2. Credit institutions and foreign bank branches must ensure the confidentiality of information related to accounts, deposits, deposited assets and transactions of customers at credit institutions and foreign bank branches.

3. Credit institutions and foreign bank branches are not allowed to provide information related to accounts, deposits, deposited assets, and transactions of customers at credit institutions and foreign bank branches to other organizations and individuals, except

In case of request from competent state agencies as prescribed by law or with customer's consent.

However, in reality, information about customers' deposits and assets is not yet confidential, for many reasons it is difficult for customers to sue banks. Many times, information disclosure is accidental, such as sending letters to introduce new products and services or publicly announcing prizes during promotions, etc. The law also does not have clear regulations on these cases.

In particular, with such provisions in the Law on Credit Institutions, the scope of customer information security has been significantly expanded, better protecting the interests of consumers. Because if in the past, only information about customers' deposits and assets at banks was confidential information, then according to the Law on Credit Institutions 2010, information related to accounts and information related to customers' transactions at banks is also considered confidential information. That means that other transactions such as payments, money transfers or loans of customers must also be kept confidential. Even if the wording of the above law is followed, even information in loan applications such as income, expenses or pledges, mortgages, and guarantees for loans are all information that must be kept confidential by banks. [24]

Through some of the above examples, it can be seen that the practical application of the standard card issuance contract at commercial banks has not really protected the rights of consumers. The reason why it is necessary to register standard contracts in the banking and finance sector is that according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, considering the adjustment of specialized banking laws, commercial contracts and general transaction conditions have complied with the regulations of the State Bank on the rights, responsibilities and obligations of the parties but have not taken into account the protection of consumer rights if considered in relation to the law on consumer rights protection. Therefore, it is necessary to include the above service groups in the list of commercial contracts and general transaction conditions that must be registered to protect consumer rights. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the banking sector is a specific and specialized activity, and transaction activities often use specialized technical terms and phrases that are not always simple.

and easy to understand. Consumers cannot always read and understand immediately, understand exactly the entire content of the words and terms in the contract when participating in a transaction. Therefore, it is necessary to have the participation of a special institution to control the content of the contract to best protect the interests of consumers. [19]. However, it is thought that there should be stricter supervision from these special institutions with the use of model contracts in practice to best protect the interests of consumers of banking services.

2.2.2. Current status of laws on risk prevention and ensuring safety for consumers during card use and transactions.

Firstly , regarding the legal status of fees for opening and using ATM cards at commercial banks . The State Bank has regulations on a number of fees and the fee levels for each type in Circular No. 35/2012/TT-NHNN regulating domestic debit card service fees. However, the application of these regulations in practice has the following shortcomings:

Typically, the most common costs associated with using a card are card issuance fees, annual fees, interest, cash withdrawal fees, foreign currency transaction fees, and late payment penalties in case of missed payments.

Surveying 12 typical banks in the market in the groups: state-owned commercial banks, large and medium-sized joint stock commercial banks, foreign banks, it can be seen that the group of state-owned commercial banks has a significant advantage in annual fees (fees users must pay annually for using the card), interest rates (must be paid outside the interest-free period).

The lowest annual fee currently is from Vietinbank, 90,000 VND/year for a standard card. Interest rates for loans from state-owned commercial banks are also among the lowest, from 1.3 - 1.6%/month, foreign currency transaction fees are 2 - 2.1%/total transaction. Of these 3 banks, Vietcombank is highly appreciated for its convenience in processing transactions via the Internet and mobile phones.

In the group of private commercial banks such as Sacombank, ACB, Eximbank, Techcombank, the annual fee is slightly higher, starting from 300,000

VND/year for standard card. The interest rate is also higher at around 1.5 - 2%/month. Eximbank is the bank with the lowest interest rate of 1.5%/month, and the late payment penalty is also the lowest at 3% of the minimum payment (minimum payment is 5% of outstanding debt). In this group, Techcombank has the highest interest rate of 2.58%, the late payment penalty is also the highest at 6% (minimum is 150,000 VND). ACB has the highest foreign currency transaction fee at 3.7% of total transactions. [18]

As can be seen, each bank has many different card products, and its fee collection policy is also diverse. Currently, according to the law, banks have publicly disclosed their domestic debit card service fee schedule. However, some banks have quite complicated fee schedules, confusing terminology with dozens of different types of cards, making it difficult for users to grasp exactly what fees they have to pay, such as Techcombank's domestic debit card fee schedule. Not to mention, in addition to the obvious fees, there are also mandatory minimum balances or withdrawal limits, which are also considered a way for banks to collect additional fees that card users rarely pay attention to. In fact, some banks requiring a minimum balance without charging interest is also considered a sophisticated way of collecting fees, which is not small. One of the other types of fees that has caused the most frustration for users recently is the withdrawal fee. Currently, many banks apply a withdrawal fee within the same system of 1,100 VND and

3,300 VND for other systems although in the Domestic Debit Card Service Fee Schedule, it is stated that domestic in the Appendix of Circular No. 35/2012/TT-NHNN regulating domestic debit card service fees, the maximum fee for withdrawing money within or outside the system is 3,000 VND. Although this fee is not high, the maximum withdrawal amount per transaction at an ATM is limited, so to withdraw a large amount of money, customers have to pay the withdrawal fee many times. For example, at BIDV and Vietcombank, the maximum transaction limit per transaction is 5 million VND, the minimum is 10,000 VND, so if you want to withdraw 20 million VND, the cardholder will have to withdraw 4 times; the withdrawal fee is multiplied by 4. Thus, the fee per transaction seems small, but if calculated on the number of cards in circulation, it will be a huge number. [25]

Thus, the State Bank and commercial banks must calculate the fee collection so that people do not feel inconvenienced, even though these fees are not worth much. Banks can recalculate their operating costs so that they do not have to collect petty fees like they do now.

"With the regulation of minimum balance in the account without interest, banks have already collected fees from customers in a sophisticated way, there is no need to collect other small fees" - commented lawyer Truong Thanh Duc.

Comparison table of interest rates and basic credit card costs of 12 banks: [18]

Bank

Annual fee (thousand) VND/year)	Interest rate (%/month)	Late Fee (% of Minimum Payment)	Cash withdrawal fee (%/total transaction)	Foreign exchange transaction fee (%/total transaction) pandemic)
Vietcombank	100 – 800	1.33 – 1.66	3%	4% (>=50)	2%
BIDV	200 – 400	1.37 – 1.5	3% (>=50)	4% (>=50)	2.1%
Vietinbank	90-1,000	1.5	3 – 6% (>=99)	4% (>=50)	2%
VIB	200 – 400	2	3% (>=50)	4% (>=60)	2.5%
Sacombank	300 - 1,000	2.15	6% (>=80)	4% (>=60)	2.6 – 2.9%
ACB	300-500	2.15	3.95%(>=50)	4% (>=60)	3.7%
Techcombank	300-500	2.58	6% (>=150)	4% (>=100)	3.49%
Eximbank	300-400	1.5	3% (>=50)	4% (>=60)	2.7%
VP Bank	275 – 880		6% (>=100)	4.4% (>=55)	3.3%
TP Bank	275 – 770	1.25 – 1.66	4% (>=100)	4%	1.2 - 2.7%
HSBC	350 - 1,200	2.16 – 2.6	4% (80 – 630)	4% (>=50)	2.5% - 4%
ANZ	350 – 1,150	2.65	4% (>=200)	4% (>=60)	3 – 3.5%

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Second, regarding technical requirements, ensure safety when using cards.

ATM.

Circular 47/2014/TT-NHNN stipulates technical requirements on security and safety for equipment serving bank card payments. However, the above circular only partially regulates the issue of ensuring the safety of ATMs and does not cover the quality of card transactions at ATMs.

It is quite common that the machine has accepted the transaction, the account has been deducted, but the money has not been released. If the transaction is not reported to the bank in time, it is very likely that the money will be lost. In cases where timely notification is made, it often takes several weeks to be resolved, especially in cases where the card of this bank is used to withdraw money through the machine of another bank. If the failed transaction accidentally overlaps with another mistake such as a deposit with insufficient money, another withdrawal transaction with excess money or fraud, the customer will lose money without being able to prove that he has never received money from the ATM.

Consumers also encounter cases where they withdraw torn or dirty money that does not meet circulation standards and is not accepted for spending, and even the bank that loaded money into the machine does not accept it. In this case, they have to pay a fee of 4% of the total value of the money to exchange for the money they withdrew from the bank's ATM. However, consumers have no basis to complain about it, because they cannot prove that it is the money withdrawn from the bank's ATM. Consumers are not only upset when they withdraw damaged money, but also have to spend time and money to go to the bank to exchange for other money. [22]. More specifically, there are cases where they withdraw money at an ATM but only receive a paper, such as the case that occurred on the afternoon of March 1, 2017 when a customer withdrew money from his account at the International Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VIB) from the ATM of the Vietnam Public Commercial Joint Stock Bank (PVCombank). When performing the withdrawal

3,000,000 VND from PVCombank ATM located near Big C Thang Long supermarket on Tran Duy Hung street, instead of receiving cash, the customer received 6 pieces of paper printed with the words 500,000 VND. Too surprised, this customer tried to withdraw 500,000 VND again, and under the witness of many people, just like the previous time, the ATM again dispensed 1 piece of paper printed with 500,000 VND.

Explaining the incident, PVCombank said that this was a technical error. Accordingly, because the bank was testing the ATM at Big C Thang Long, the customer made the transaction at the same time as the contractor was handling the temporary transmission line absent from the ATM. Because it was in the testing process and the contractor had not yet handed over the technology to PVcomBank, the real money had not been credited to the fund and the customer withdrew the demo money. PVCombank also said that after receiving the information, it immediately carried out an investigation to refund the customer.

The incident was immediately resolved by the bank, so there was no loss to the customer. However, according to experts, even if we exclude the possible serious causes that the bank did not disclose, the use of the excuse of negligence

Lawyer Truong Thanh Duc, Chairman of the Board of Directors of BASICO Law Firm, said that technical negligence cannot be used as an explanation for this incident.

“In my opinion, this is extremely serious, and this situation cannot even happen. Testing must have a strict process, it cannot be done as a joke like this. If you try and still connect to the network and still can withdraw, then it is not allowed, and if you can withdraw, you cannot just leave it there,” said lawyer Truong Thanh Duc.

In terms of law, according to lawyer Truong Thanh Duc, whether or not to punish the bank for violations in this case needs to be compared with current regulations. However, this incident will seriously affect the bank's reputation.

“For such a silly mistake to happen, customers have every right to doubt the security and safety issues of the bank. In theory, if someone withdraws tens of millions of banknotes like that, if the bank does not compensate, the customer must also pay, because the transaction shows that money has been withdrawn, the statement is available…” – lawyer Truong Thanh Duc stated his opinion. [23]

Third, safety in using ATMs is also a big problem for consumers . Just through an inspection in early 2010 in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, hundreds of ATMs were discovered to be leaking electricity, endangering the health of users, including dozens of machines with enough current to cause damage.

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