Who pays for credit cards these days?

Why do some banks make it a habit of deducting credit card fees from customers' accounts annually without first asking whether they would like to continue using their cards? Surely they cannot assume that everyone would readily agree to paying for them.

It is a well-known fact that few people these days pay for their cards. So why did DBS debit my account -- without informing me --- only to agree to return my money the following month after I made a fuss?

To be fair, it is not only DBS that has done this to me. I had the same experience years ago with Citibank and managed to put a stop to it when I told them that I could not be doing the unravelling year after year because it was really tiresome.

But I know of people, like my friend Su, who does not bother to create a fuss like I do. She allows the fee to remain deducted even though she knows that the bank would not charge her if she did.

Such people are either too busy or too lazy to make a call to the bank, probably put off by the inconvenience of getting through to the officer in charge on the phone.

It begs the question: Should the bank therefore take advantage of this group of people, some of whom may be valuable customers who chalk up huge sums from their credit card purchases each month?

Although my new relationship manager Desmond was very helpful when I told him about my fee deduction, it was still an effort having to call and explain to him --- yet again -- the reason for my unhappiness.