Banks and their customers

Sir, – Brian Hayes says bank-bashing is the new group-think (Business, July 12th). On Monday, my husband queued at our bank, AIB Drogheda, to lodge two American cheques which he had received from his sister. On Wednesday, he received a letter saying the following fees applied: €15.20 per cheque, plus $30 per cheque charged by AIB's "US agent bank". The cashier failed to mention these fees; my husband was informed two days after the transaction. The letter presents no way of avoiding the fees. How juicy for AIB: the ordinary taxpayer who saved it has no way of processing cheques other than, duh, through a bank. Gotcha! So, Mr Hayes, it's not group-think and it's not bank-bashing; it's bitter, repeated experience of being gouged. – Yours, etc,

MARY FEELY,

Dunany,Co Louth.