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Keep A Check On Banks' Charges

6 August 2000

IT'S NOT just interest rates that are going up so are bank fees.

Westpac has introduced a 15? fee for Internet users who make payments into the account of another financial institution.

The banks have also lifted most other fees to recover the cost of GST, making it essential to review your banking.

For example, if you rarely use a branch, save money by choosing an account that doesn't include charges for cheque and overdraft services.

And if you can't keep away from the ATM or EFTPOS, an account that provides a high number of free automatic transactions for a one-off monthly fee will probably save you money.

Remember, the banks count EFTPOS as a transaction whether you take cash out or not, so buying a few groceries, filling up the car and using an ATM could wipe out your quota in one day.

Contrary to popular belief, most bank customers don't pay fees on their transaction accounts.

``Most people don't pay any fees at all because of the way they manage their banking with their financial service provider," said Jeff Oughton of the Australian Bankers Association.

However, exceeding your free transactions can be costly.

Check your bank statement and see how many transactions you make on average a month. If it's more than eight, it may pay you to shop around.

For example, National's FlexiAccount has a $4 monthly fee and eight free transactions. But if you write one cheque too many, it'll cost $1.

For heavier users, St George's Select DeLuxe account offers 20 freebies for a monthly fee of $6.50, or 32.5? a transaction.

If you never go to a branch, ANZ's Access Value charges $6 for 15 transactions (or 40? each) but waives the fee if you keep at least $500 in the account.

The cheapest overall account is NAB's FlexiDirect, with no fee and 10 freebies, but again you have to use the Internet, EFTPOS and ATMs.

Once you've found the best account, there are still ways of cutting fees.

Cassandra Williams, analyst at Cannex, says avoid using another bank's ATM network where a higher fee is charged for withdrawal and balance inquiries.

Avoid excess-transaction fees by taking slightly larger amounts of money out of the bank or EFTPOS cash out each time.

It's better when you're shopping to use EFTPOS and the cash out option walking down the road to the ATM could cost you another 50? in fees.

Ms Williams says it pays to find out if you are exempt from certain costs because you are a student, pensioner or have a home loan, as this is not always automatically done.

Package banking is also becoming popular.

With this option, customers condense their accounts and save on ongoing and application fees. Personal loans with the Commonwealth Bank are exempt from application fees if you have an Award Saver account and meet certain requirements.

ACCOUNTS YOU CAN COUNT ON
                        Up to10 transactions            More than 10
transactions
                        Traditional     Electronic              Traditional
Electronic
Bank                    NAB             NAB             St George       ANZ
Account                 FlexiAccount    FlexiDirect     Select          Access
                                                        Deluxe          Value
Monthly                 Nil - $4*               Nil             $6.50
Nil - $6*
fee
Freebies                        8               10              20
15
* For FlexiAccount the fee is waived if there is $1,000 in the account.
For ANZ Access Value the fee is waived if there is at least $500 in the account.

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