MartinLuther

As the continuation of bank charges is often blamed on Aussies I thought it might be interesting to see who takes advantage of fee free banking.

Centurion

Actually prefer to have my fees explained up front and I know what I'm paying for. Ultimately someone has to pick up the banks bill, and in countries where "fee free banking" is commonplace you pay for it somewhere along the line, its just a cost thats absorbed into something else.

Wendy

Fee's don't bother me at all. So long as the bank balance is in the red I don't give a stuff

Vash the Stampede

Don't you mean "in the black"?

annqldau

Is there a totaly fee free bank in Aus, if so I haven't found it?

We moved from the Commonwealth due to charges but our new bank still has some charges but not on the scale of the Commonwealth.

Tom Sawyer

We are with HSBC and the only charge I have paid is when move money to the UK for my regular visits and that is A$20 per transaction, and if I use my VISA linked debit card for overseas transactions ($4.50?). Never paid for an ATM withdrawl or any other normal day to day service. Even though our nearest branch is 30miles away it has never caused a problem as you use Australia Post and any ATM (limit of 4 or 5 free withdrawals a month).

mackinnon

We have this account:

http://www.ezybanking.com.au/action/features.asp#a4

If you plan well, and live near a store where you can regularly make withdrawals, then you can keep it fee-free.

(Something we don't always manage to do!)

Until there is a concerted effort by consumers in Australia, or unless one of the big four drops account-keeping fees to spark competition, the charges will just keep on coming.

Wendy

Erm yeah

No wonder I'm always skint

MartinLuther

I use HSBC which is virtually fee free. I think they charge $1 for writing cheques and you can get charged for using other banks' ATMs more than 5 times a month. I don't do either of these things and so haven't been charged. The use of other banks ATMs is actually very handy and I was surprised that they didn't charge me for the generic ATM I once used in the Crown Casino. If you need to get cash out more often then you can get it from the post office or through cash back.

So where are they making their money. They give a really low interest rate unless you keep more than $5k in the account.

worzel

Agreed.

mackinnon

Problem is, the banks don't need to charge these fees at all.

Are they not making enough profits as it is?

kiwi_child

They make make oodles of profits for their shareholders and pay CEO's obscene salaries and perks. The world has long since changed and it's all about posting bigger profits and therefore shareholder dividends etc to the point where the community at large no longer benefit from these and other services/products. Deregulation has alot to answer for.

worzel

Aren't all businesses in it to make money? If you object to that there are always credit societies.

annqldau

I like the way the banks never give you the money back as quickly as they take it and how, in this electronic age it still takes 4 days for money to move around that is in an account and not waiting for any sort of clearance and just needs an electric whiz over to the new account.

sassie

yep. HSBC and ING. We use HSBC as our day to day account, free withdrawals from their own ATM's or 5 free per month from other banks ATM's, and we use ING as our savings account.