Four years ago, I opened accounts with BPI Direct Savings Bank, the “Philippines’ first internet bank”. Fed up with poor customer service, I recently closed these two accounts — an Express Teller Savings Account and a Maxi-One Checking Account — and switched to Security Bank. It didn’t help matters that BPI Direct merged with another BPI subsidiary last year and never informed their clients beforehand; I only got an email after the fact (geez). As a depositor, I would definitely be concerned and want to be made aware if the institution I was banking with would be involved in something as major as a corporate merger. Instead, we were an afterthought (“oh hey girl, btw, BPI Direct is no more coz we’ve merged with BPI Globe BanKO to become a totally new and different entity, BPI Direct BanKo!”). Talk about poor corporate governance…
So goodbye to you, BPI Direct. Here’s how I closed my accounts:
Express Teller Savings Account
- Zero out the account. You can do this by withdrawing the money from their ATMs (the daily withdrawal limit for BPI Direct accounts is PHP 50,000). As for the remaining amount (small bills and centavos) that I couldn’t get through ATM, I simply used it to pay bills through their online banking channel, BPI Express Online.
- Call their hotline, BPI Express Phone. The first agent I talked to said it was enough to zero out the account and that it will automatically close after two years of inactivity. BUT, the second agent was fortunately more knowledgeable — she said she will personally put in a request with BPI Direct to close the account. So if you get someone like the first agent when you ring their call center, explicitly instruct him/her to send a request.
Maxi-One Checking Account
- Zero out the account
- Send a request letter via email. Below is a sample of the letter I sent requesting BPI Direct to close the account. I printed, signed, and scanned the letter, then sent it to bpidirect@bpi.com.ph and expressonline@bpi.com.ph. Keep the file size below 3 MB and attach it as either a JPEG or PDF.
You can verify account closure by logging on to BPI Express Online. If the accounts no longer appear in your portfolio, it means they’re closed already.