Fee questions have exact answers, so the agent should give exact answers or none. It quotes the published tariff for the customer's product version, with the conditions behind each fee, and uses the system's calculator for any figure that depends on the customer's account. It never describes a fee as small, estimates one, or agrees to waive it.
What is the process, and who owns it?
Customers ask about fees before they act and after they are charged. What will it cost to send money abroad? Is there a fee for paying off my loan early? Why do you charge for paper statements? What happens if I go overdrawn? The first kind is about the tariff, the published list of fees and when they apply. The second kind, "why was I charged this?", is a billing question about a specific transaction.
The product or pricing team owns the tariff and its versions. Compliance approves how fees are described. Customer support owns the conversation. Fee refunds and waivers belong to a team with authority to grant them. The agent explains the tariff at depth 3; the line it holds is the one drawn in our guide to the AI support agent that knows when to say no, and the transaction-level questions follow answering billing questions with an AI agent.
What are the steps, and at what depth?
- Agent, depth 1: identifies the product and version. Customers on older products may have a different tariff from new customers. Without authentication, the agent answers only from the current published tariff and says so.
- Agent, depth 1: retrieves the tariff entry: the fee, the conditions that trigger it, how it is calculated, and any cap.
- Agent, depth 3: explains the fee, quoting the amount and conditions, in plain words, and pointing to where the customer can read the tariff.
- Agent, depth 3: gives account-specific figures only from the system's own calculation: an early repayment charge quote, a foreign exchange cost at the current rate with its timestamp.
- Agent, depth 1: recognises charge disputes and waiver requests and switches to the billing or fee-refund route.
- Agent, depth 2: drafts the waiver or refund request with the fee, the customer's reason and any signs of financial difficulty, for a person to decide.
- Person, authorised colleague: decides waivers and refunds within their authority.
- Agent, depth 1: routes customers in difficulty to the financial support team before any discussion of waivers.
| Step | The agent does | Depth | Stays with a person |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identify | Finds product and tariff version | 1 | Nothing |
| Retrieve | Pulls the tariff entry | 1 | Nothing |
| Explain | Quotes fee and conditions | 3 | Tariff wording |
| Figures | Gives system-calculated amounts | 3 | Nothing |
| Recognise | Spots disputes and waiver requests | 1 | Nothing |
| Draft | Prepares waiver or refund request | 2 | The decision |
| Difficulty | Routes to support team | 1 | Payment help |
Which controls matter, and what evidence does each leave?
Tariff version on every answer. If a fee was described from the wrong version, you can find every affected customer. Evidence: version cited per answer.
No mental arithmetic. Any figure that depends on the customer's balance, term or exchange rate comes from the system that calculates it. Evidence: the calculation reference stored with the figure.
Neutral description. Words like "only", "small" or "just" make a fee sound less significant than the customer may find it. The approved wording describes fees without adjectives. Evidence: scope-gate results on tone.
Rates carry a timestamp. Exchange rates and variable interest move; a quote is valid for its moment. Evidence: rate source and time in each answer.
Waivers are held for a person. Evidence: held verdicts and the approver's name.
What should you measure?
- Fee questions answered without transfer, by fee type. Frequent questions about one fee suggest it is poorly explained at the point of sale.
- Disputes after an explained fee: customers who were told about a fee and later complained about it.
- Waiver requests drafted and granted, by reason.
- Answers later found wrong, traced to tariff version or calculation.
- Customers routed for financial support from fee conversations.
Where does it usually go wrong?
The current tariff is used for every customer. Long-standing customers on closed products have different fees. Authenticate before quoting product-specific charges.
Conditions are dropped. "There is no fee for transfers" omits "up to a monthly limit". The conditions are part of the answer.
Comparisons are made. Customers ask whether your fees are better than elsewhere. The agent answers about your fees only.
Fee questions hide distress. "How much is the fee if I miss a payment?" may come from someone who expects to miss one. Offer support before the fee table.
The terms and the tariff disagree. Quote both and flag the conflict, the same discipline as in answering questions about terms and conditions with an AI agent.
Pre-purchase and post-purchase blur. A prospect comparing products and a customer querying a charge need different sources. The question about a charge on an existing account belongs with whether an AI agent can answer questions about a customer's bill.
Where Pryme fits
Pryme holds the tariff in the policy library as a sealed source with versions, so each answer cites the exact entry. Calculated figures come through the Pryme Context Protocol from the system that produced them, with a timestamp. Waivers are outside the explaining agent's role scope; a request becomes a held verdict for a named colleague.
Questions people ask
Can the agent explain fees to people who are not yet customers?
Yes, from the current published tariff, without any account data. It should make clear that fees may differ for existing products.
Should the agent tell customers how to avoid a fee?
Where the tariff sets conditions, such as a fee-free allowance, explaining them is part of explaining the fee. It should not suggest workarounds the firm has not approved.
Is a fee question ever as simple as a status question?
Sometimes. "Is there a fee for this?" can be answered as plainly as an order status question, but only once the agent knows which product the customer holds.