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Damn. You beat me to it by literally 13 seconds
I added a note to the end of my post that this applies specifically to "assisted withdrawals", ie those done through an actual bank teller and not an ATM. Also post offices, but not cashout through a supermarket
Even if it is only under certain circumstances, charging customers to access money is appalling behaviour. Once upon a time, banks paid us to keep our money in their establishment. Now that our society has evolved to the point where we literally can't function without a bank account somewhere, the banks treat us like they don't need us.
However, the account also includes an "assisted withdrawal fee", where customers taking money out at bank branches, post offices or by phone are charged $3 per withdrawal.
I'd rather not defend banks, but it appears the fee only applies when staff are involved. Withdrawing at an ATM or EFTPOS at checkout seem to remain free.
They should be legally required to provide free assisted withdrawals for seniors, the disabled, and post office withdrawals when an ATM is not within a few km's, but I don't think it'd be an issue for everyone else.
Personally I don't care about this, however I think most bank fees should be illegal, period; especially insufficient balance and all generic monthly fees. Nowadays most of these things are fully-automated, and I'd bet the cost of maintaining an inactive or low activity account are near-zero; the fees are just a tax on the poor, financially illiterate, and busy.
For anyone who doesn't know, you can go into your bank account settings and disable "Overdraft Protection". Once you do this, your transaction will be declined if there are insufficient funds instead of overdrafting your account and charging you $30 or whatever it is now.
those done through an actual bank teller
That's the only type of cash withdrawal I do these days though. I've been living in the USA for a while but it was the same for me when I lived in Australia too. I can't be the only one?
I don't use cash day-to-day. When buying stuff at a store, I tap my watch or card to pay. For sending money to other people, I use Zelle, which is embedded in the apps and sites of all major US banks (roughly equivalent to PayID). Even the small vendors at farmers markets where I live usually accept card, Zelle, Venmo or PayPal.
For getting cash while overseas in countries where they're not as big on credit/debit cards, I have a Wise multi-currency account and use its debit card at a local ATM. Way better rates than exchanging cash.
If I want cash, it's usually because I want money for tips when travelling, and in that case I want smaller denominations ($1, $5, $10) so I go to the bank to get them. The ATMs only have $20s and $50s.
@Nath One of the excuses when introducing ATMs was that it was cheaper to provide the service. They either lied then, or they're lying now. I know which option I prefer. Fark 'em. Fark 'em all.
More people need to use credit unions.
Also "Great Southern Bank" are dickheads for renaming from Credit Union Australia (CUA).
Yeah GSB sounds like something that will be recalled for causing bloated testicle or something. Being back CUA
I moved away from CommBank once they started charging me a monthly fee while I was still a teenager, in the 2000s. Convinced my whole family to switch to NAB. I hope NAB don't follow suit.
Huh, my bank is free until IIRC you are 25. You get a simple account with a debit card and a simple savings account (pretty sure you can make however many accounts you feel like for free after that). You also get access to the instant money transfer tool that everyone in my country uses (no fees whatsoever to use it either)
Most banks in Australia are completely free too. It's only a couple of the biggest and shittiest banks (like Commbank) that have fees for regular use.
My bank is one of the biggest in my country. They charge a flat rate of like 10-20 € a year normally (+ some extra fees for specific stuff like paying in foreign currencies) which I think is pretty reasonable.
Are the smaller banks in Australia completely free for all ages and with no fees?
Not no fees, but typically no fees for normal use. Most have international transaction fees. Some have fees for things like cheques (which are almost never used in Australia typically), either merely to have a cheque book or for expedited processing. Things like that. But it's quite rare to have a fee just to have your account; that's something mostly only the big 4 still do. They make enough profit off of loaning out your money for interest anyway.
Corporate banks can go suck an egg. There are multiple good member owned banks whose directors are accountable to you and not shareholders.
Bank of America tried a $5 debit card fee back in 2011 and lost me as a customer. It was so unpopular, they ended up rolling it back.
Precisely the outcome we want to see here. An exodus of customers leading them not only to roll this back but to put the other banks on notice that they really don't want to follow CBA's lead on this one.
