This article, written by Agnes Gajewska, appeared in Broker News. It shows the power of social networking sites in getting a positive outcome from our Banks.

While brokers have been told not to call the CBA, it seems perhaps “tweeting” may be a better option, after the bank reportedly fast-tracked a loan after receiving unwanted social networking publicity.

According to news.com.au, the bank approved a mortgage loan after a disgruntled customer posted an angry message on social networking site, Twitter.

The post read: “CBA f#$&ked up our loan approval so we’re still waiting to exchange contracts”.

And, according to news.com.au, the bank was quick to get in contact, formally approving the loan by 3pm the following day.

Expert in social media and marketing from Queensland University of Technology, Dr Edwina Luck Technology told news.com.au that “e-word of mouth” was empowering the consumer.

“With today’s crisis [lenders] can’t afford to have these kinds of messages out there,” Luck said.

“These messages reinforce the perception that banks are horrible and it affects the morale of the staff, the shareholders and the share price.”

She went on to say that corporations were regularly monitoring social media sites and blogs to maintain their image.

“They’ve now taken this story from ‘the bank did wrong by me’ to ‘the bank did wrong by me and they fixed it fast’ - but they really shouldn’t be doing the wrong thing in the first place,” she said.

Of Australia’s major banks, CBA and Westpac both have Twitter pages:
http://twitter.com/CBAOnline , http://twitter.com/westpac

So if you are having some challenges with your Bank then maybe you should tweet your frustrations.

Happy tweeting!
Lee Sutherland