Vanessa

Talk about milking it - I wonder which 4 banks they are referring to

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/...html?from=top5

mackinnon

"I'm moving to Australia because those Australians don't stand for any shit."

This story would suggest not.

Wendy

I know. Trouble is until one of them stops charging the others aren't going to.


I may have found a niche there, I wonder how hard it is to open a bank I bet you need a licence

CadburysFingers

This is exactly why we have just moved to the National from the Commonwealth. Details below of the two different accounts, from a post I put on a different thread.

I posted a thread recently to try and collate some info before we changed banks from the very expensive Commonwealth Bank. The result of all the info received was I opened two accounts with the National Bank (www.national.com.au) Seems an excellent bank from the staff I have encountered thus far.

We opened a Smart Saver account $3 per month, with unlimited EFTPOS and ATM transactions, which suits us perfectly.

We also linked it to an I Saver account (5.45% interest calculated daily) The good thing about this account is it has no minimum balance required to get your 5.45% so we simply keep all our dosh in there, then transfer it via the net to the other account if we know we need some money for anything.

$3 a month for everything we need from a bank, at the Commonwealth we were paying around $20 a month and had to keep a balance of over $5000 to earn the higher rate of interest in our second account. It was an easy choice to make.

Vash the Stampede

Just like people in other countries *cough*britain*cough* there are some things over which we have no control and with which we must learn to cope as best we can.

If you have any suggestions on how to bring the entire multi-billion dollar banking industry to its knees, I'd be delighted to hear them. Examples of previous conquests would also be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

mackinnon

By actions such as this:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...088046,00.html

Now, I can't take credit for that, but this guy has set a precedent.

And I ALWAYS challenge fees they try to take off me here in Scotland, have only paid 1 in the last 10, over a few years.

Also, having been miffed at Australian banks taking money off me just to have the cash sitting there when on a working holiday a couple of years ago, I decided to vote with my feet and opened an account with these people:

http://www.ezybanking.com.au/ NO MONTHLY CHARGES

Maybe Australians should question WHY they should have to pay monthly charges.

Banks just use your money as collateral anway to play on the markets, so why take charges off us just to have the money sitting there.

Please don't misunderstand my post as a dig at Australia, it's a dig at people immigrating to Oz who come on here and perpetuate their myths.

However, and please correct me if you think I'm wrong, but I got the feeling in Australia that some people are afraid to complain, for fear of looking like a whinger.

So that's ONE thing the U.K and Oz have in common

p.s. As soon as you say to yourself "I have no control over this", you then become instantly correct.

Vash the Stampede

He may have set a precedent, but to what extent has he changed the industry? I see no dramatic upheaval.

That's fine, but how many charges did you succeed in overturning once you moved Down Under? I'd be very interested to know.

Sounds great, but (a) what are the conditions, (b) what other charges do they have, and (c) would this be appropriate for everyone?

There are very few banks which offer a "one size fits all" solution.

They do. It's a source of constant complaint, and there have been plenty of news stories and "current affairs" programmes on the issue. But as long as the Big Four have a monopoly, there's little else people can do.

I agree with you.

I don't believe that's true. Take the war on Iraq for example; millions of Brits and Aussies protested against it, in the biggest demonstrations seen in either country for decades.

Did this stop the British and Australian governments going ahead with the war? Not on your nelly!

Examples could be multiplied.

Remember also, that different people have different priorities. The person who protests against the war on Iraq will not necessarily be the person who protests against bank charges.

At the end of the day, there will always be things you can change, and things you can't. The key is to pick your battles with care instead of wasting your energy on pointless resistance to a foregone conclusion.

Not always. Sometimes you say it as a result of the realisation that it is actually true.

Do you have control over the federal interest rate, for example?


PS. Thanks for a very reasonable and polite response.

DollyDaydream

...now takes 5 minutes to draw breath!!!

D D

Vash the Stampede

*phew*

arkon

It's exactly that attitude that lets the robbing gypsies get away with it. May be we should organise a week every month where the entire nation withdraws it's cash from the banks. Wouldn't take long for the fees to fall away I think.

Vash the Stampede

I refer you to my previous posts.

232Bar

Not sure they'd really miss my $3.76