The Bank Thread

I have to change banks!

Bank SA slugged me with over $27 in fee's this month and I've had it!! They where for Direct Credit/Debit Fees, St.George & Banksa Atm Fees, Eftpos Fees, Debit Interest, Non Stg/Bsa Atm Wdl Fee & Non Stg/Bsa Atm Inq Fee!

Has been more in previous months!

I'm on a concession account, I'm not meant to get half of those fee's!

Eftpos & using other non Bank SA fee's is fine, but the rest is shit!

But why for using Bank SA + St George atm's & for people to deposit money in to my account!?!?!?




What do the massive use/recommend?

All I need is a LOW fee account, I'm sick of the bank ripping me off!

Spank Bank FTW!

 

Im with comm bank & their fine no real problems unless you overdraw

Credit Unions FTW.

I'm with Defcredit, the defence forces credit union because my old man was & I used to get some fee reductions because of this.
Don't get them anymore and the most I've paid in fees the past few years is about the $10 mark.

That is made up of:

• because I go over the allocated 6 free ATM transactions.
• BPay fees

I draw money out and make most purchases on Credit/Visa and they don't cost me anything.

I have been slugged some hefty fees for overdrawing the account, but I even managed to get a few of those back

Nessa, find the nearest credit union to you and go and check out what they offer.

Seriously!

I think the most I ever paid was close to $70 in fees with Bank SA due to me NEVER using Bank SA ATM's and the amount I was withdrawing at the time was stupid! Ah those were the days.

I still use Bank SA and these days I generally get slugged a maximum of $15.

Have you contacted them to dispute the fees? That would be my first call if I didnt think it was right.

I'm with Community CPS, they are pretty good. Pretty low fees and you get a number of free transactions for EFTPOS, ATM etc etc. I also have my contents insurance with them/Allianz for a very good monthly price too. I pay around $5 a month in fees or something like that.

Lexy, I'm slugged with about $15 of fees every month from CPS !
Hating them !

Good thing I just started a job at a bank and apparantly we get no bank fees coz we're staff w00 !

Hmm, sucks to be you 

I used to get heaps more in fees when I used to make HEAPS of withdrawals at ATM's and stuff, but then I stopped doing that. Try and use credit union ATM's instead of bank ATM's... I think that makes a difference as well.

I am with ANZ who are raping it in atm because they are so rad.

But seriously ALL banks suck. Credit Unions are much better.

The main thing with fees, and this especially relates to girls, is to learn to use only your specific banks atms and budget yourself, so you know how much you need to take out each week and take it out ALL AT ONCE!!! If you do this, it doesn't matter what bank you go with really.

 

bank sa are fine with me never had problems

Given that banks are legally required to disclose their fee structure in writing and make that info freely available to you before you sign up for any of their products, it shouldn't be that hard to do a bit of web-shopping and find the product that best suits your financial requirements.

For everyday banking, I use a Westpac One Main account. (They do not offer this product to new customers anymore, I would say they have replaced it with a comparable product)

For $10 a month, you get unlimited EFTPOS use, no fees for people crediting your account. In fact, the only fees I pay are for using non-Westpac ATM's. On that note, it seems that every ATM I go to is not a Westpac one unless I go out of my way to find one.

The OP mentioned debit interest on a transaction account. The bank should only be charging you DI if your balance is in debit. If that is not the case, I'd be calling their customer service and asking some questions.

This is the main reason why ANZ are raping it in atm. They are opening up loads more stores, and putting out loads more atms and people are noticing and switching to them.

I used to be on the One main account and was not using all of my accounts so changed to a new product. I mainly use the net and pay only $3 a month, unlimited westpac atm withdrwals but it costs me like $5 per staff assisted withdrawal, pretty good for someone that just uses the net to do their banking

Why does that especially relate to girls? 

Because that's just the way it is.

 

I do a lot of
I like having the option of fee-free staff assisted withdrawals, theres been many a time where I have encountered difficulty in remembering my telephone banking #'s and codes, even though I've been able to answer all the identification questions okay

Why aren't Savings & Loans on the poll? They're who I'm with and I wouldn't be with anyone else!

I have like 0 fees, my visa repayments are fuckall and service is great.

credit unions suck cos they have about 4 atms which are all located at opposite ends of the world and you get charged loads for even thinking about using anyone else's atms. apart from that they are usually ok.

I dont see how people can get into horror stories with transaction accounts. Mortgage and credit card products maybe, but not something as simple as a savings account.

When shopping for financial products, you should read all the product disclosure statement and terms & conditions thoroughly before signing up. If you do so, you'll rarely be caught out by unexpected fees and charges and if you do get slugged and its not part of the agreed terms, 99.98% of the time, the bank will resolve the complaint/dispute in the customers favour.

Its under Credit union sweety

Occasionally I get ass fucked by non-BankSA atm withdrawals but otherwise they are pretty good.  $6 a month for pretty much all the electronic transactions you can eat which is very similar to the Comm, Adelaide Bank and the other ones.  Plus there usually is a shitload of BankSA atms everywhere.

As LD says you just need to pick the right bank which suits the way to handle your money!  Nessa maybe if you are on a concession account it is likely that you wouldn't get all the features you need included in your monthly fee?

savings and loans or STFU

im unlucky if i pay them $10 a year in fees, and im getting 6.4% interest on my saved cash
banks suck

Can you make online transactions like BPay and transfers to third party accounts with Credit Unions?

Thats the clincher for me. Being able to pay bills and pay anyone online is something I couldn't live without.

im with ACCU (aust central credit union) and i pay everything via the net. u can do bpay, and u can also transfer to any bsb, not just ACCU accounts....

i've been with them for about 5 years now, and am really happy with them.

the only fault i could pick would be that their atm's aren't as common as ur good ol' westpac, banksa or cba.....

still, i'll prob never go back to a bank (and i work for one!)

On the phone to St George now, they arn't willing to resolve my complaint & the lady is been quite rude about it!

So hard to stay calm & polite when they are been like this!

She isn't even listening to me properly!

Savings & Loans FTW.

Fuck banks, I love having no fees.

Credit Union on the poll is a bit sparse because not all credit unions are the same. When working for a certain employer they insisted upon Powerstate accounts if we wanted to get paid (long story, but we were getting shafted). Powerstate happened to be the shittest financial institution ever with only about 3-4 ATMs at the time.


Yep you can do all that. I manage my different accounts online, pay bills using BPay, transfer to other institutions for paying eBay sellers, etc.

Yeah there could be more S&L ATMs, but they're never too far away. I manage my cash well and hardly ever need to rely on other ATMs anyway - in fact the only times is when I'm drunk and need cash for more drinks and possibly kebab.

And I can never praise the S&L Visa enough - the overdraft interest is at a very good rate. If I spend wisely, I am actually saving myself money by using it. Previously I was paying $40-50 a month on EFTPOS transactions but now I put everything on credit so there are no transaction fees. I think I have paid $2 in transaction fees over the last year.

IMO the positives far outweigh the little or no negatives.

Going to open a new account next week, not sure with who just yet....

Closing my Bank SA account at the end of the month, that way what ever fee's I owe them by then can get taken out & then I won't owe them shit! 

S&L are great unless you're interstate... there's hardly any reditellers and they sock you $2 a pop to use non-rediteller ATMS.

When I went to Sydney last year I ended up with nearly $20 in ATM fees... I didn't want to take out $500 and carry it around with me.

Here in Melbs I get about $6 in ATM fees per week.

It's stupid. If they don't have teller machines readily available, why should I be charged?

Bendigo because they have a branch in my suburb, and because they were the only ones who wanted to give me (a student at the time) a VISA (debit) card.

Now that I'm in Europe it doesn't really matter that much though I guess, I'm going to get slugged with huge fees if I take money out of my Aussie account regardless...

that is my argument too, and if the atm is fucked and you have to go elsewhere!

BankSA has had fee free account for students with a Debit card for years - I had one for years and am pretty sure they still offer it.  I think Adelaide Bank also does a similar thing for students and has done for a while too.

WESTPAC or STFU!

No fees, lowest mortgage than anywhere else...gotta love it when your other half works for a bank 

Westpac staff have it pretty good, 0.7% off the standard variable rate home loan, no account service fee on savings/transaction accounts and discount off home & contents insurance premiums is a pretty sweet deal.

You got that right. We have a pretty sweet package. Insurance and all. The only place that properly insured all my Vinyl too 

Westpac is sounding mighty fine at the moment...

Might pop in there tomorrow & have a chat to them

westpac are the only bank in oz that has signed up to a global agreement to not be dodgy..as much as i love nab, i'm thinking of heading across to em...

http://www.westpac.com.au/internet/publish.nsf/Content/WI+Corporate+responsibility

 Westpac used to regularly rank right up high (top 5) in some worldwide corporate ranking in terms of being 'good' . Environment, Values, etc. All that stuff. Cant exactly recall what is was.

 That was one aspect about working there that I used to enjoy actually. They weren't too evil ( the diet coke of evil).

 If you do change over to them for that reason Anna you should tell them that, they will cream themselves lol.

i know!! hahaa! i will do some research methinks...

HAHAHA

Quasi-evil!

There seems to be no real consistancy about any bank or credit union being better, so i pose my question to LD and Kurko as you both seem resonably educated on the matter!

I need a credit card seperate to my current account with Saving and Loans Credit Union. I need something that is easily accesible overseas and interstate, with resonable fees that arent going to send me backrupt whilst im in Europe, and with excellent internet banking facilities 

Any suggestions!!?

Someone suggested ANZ being one of the best places to have an everyday account. You pay $10 or something a month in fees but that's all you pay.
Credit Unions used to have a heaps good deal with fees etc but now they're just like the banks.

Virgin Credit Card FTW!!!

no fees EVER! low 11.99% rate ALWAYS! no interest for 6 months on balance transfers! awesome exchange rates overseas. NO CHARGE for cash advances!!

Wow .... that's heaps better than my 19% from Card Services Direct

SAME!

I want one.

Calling them now to ask if I can do a balance transfer : )

i'm with satisfac credit union and i have never ever had a single problem with them.

i have a visa debit card and i have never been charged any fees.

their net banking and phone services are really good too.

the only down side is only having 2 branches (one south terrace and one in happy valley) but i have never needed to go in there anyway.

satisfac for the win

Savings & Loans FTW!!!

I dont qualify

Im boarding, and ive been in my job less than a year, and before this job is want earning over $40 000 a year. Urgh! Any other suggestions?

Fuck. 

Opened up a Westpac account today, its awesome! 

Its a concession account, so no account keeping fees, unlimited transactions, unlimited EFTPOS, unlimited phone & internet banking.

Pretty similar to the one LD or Grimes posted about.

Only time I will be charged for fees is If I don't use a Westpac ATM or over draw my account.

Also have the option of a debit card so I can do online purchases, again, with all the same benefits! 


GOOD FUCKING BYE BANK SA YOU FUCKING MONEY MUNCHING CUNTS!!