Why Banks Suck

So a bit of a backstory here. I am Australian and my family uses the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), which is the second largest in the country. With interest rates at record lows, my grandparents are in the process of switching their money over to another (smaller but still widely known) bank with a higher interest rate. I was at their house when they made the call to CBA to make this transfer.

It all started off in a relatively normal way. They answered some security questions that they had set up when the account was created and gave them other details (driver's licence numbers, etc) to verify that they were the account holders. When my grandparents told them why they were calling, however, the whole tone of the conversation changed. The woman they were talking to became extremely curt and began to ask them strange questions like when they had last left the country, where they had travelled to, etc. She also started to warn them how it is too risky to transfer large sums of money around, because it is more likely that they will fall victims to scammers (despite the fact that they had told her why they were changing banks and the new account was also in their names). She capped off the whole conversation by flat-out lying to them, saying that their new bank was not guaranteed by the Australian government and that they could 'lose all their money'. A quick Google search disproved this.

While I could see that this was all bullshit, it really rattled by grandparents. Both being in their 80s, neither of them have a lot of confidence when it comes to handling their finances, especially using internet banking. I eventually got on the phone with this woman and she became even more unfriendly, warning me that the phone call was being recorded when I told her that she was lying. We finally got the transfer to execute, but not before having to pay a $30 fee for this to take place. I never understood how old people fall victims to scammers, but after seeing the scare tactics that are employed even by a 'trusted' institution, I now get how confusing it can be for them.

The message out of all of this? Banks do not give a shit about their customers. They only care about the money that these people give to them. They will do anything to keep it, even if it results in negative outcomes for their clients.

TL;DR: Banks are fucking shady and they will do anything to stop themselves from parting with your money. Bring on DeFi