MSE news: Australian giant abolishes "unfair" bank charges 28 July 2009 at 9:51PM edited 28 July 2009 at 11:23PM in Reclaim bank & credit card charges 19 replies 2.7K views

Former_MSE_Guy

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"A major Australian bank will scrap bank charges in the autumn, in a move which campaigners hope will help UK charges victims.

National Australia Bank (NAB) will abolish the $30 (£15) charge for declined transactions or for going overdrawn without permission on 1 October ..."

Read the full story:
Australian giant abolishes "unfair" bank charges

Triker

Could this be the start of something I wonder?:D

barloo69

mmmmmm sounds good, but the cynic in me, suggests that they might try and recoup the fee elsewhere ie annual account fees or lower rates of return on investment products.

The charging business is BIG BIG BIG revenue to the fat cat banks and is something I would not have thought they would easily give up.

Hey, anything is possible though I suppose.

mikeandrach_2

i wish a bank would charge say £9.99 per month for a bank account, where with no menu you could get through to a human being who could speak english and help you, surely if one of the big banks did this and abolished the charges they would be deluged with applications, we think nothing of paying for service in a restaurant etc, we would probably all pay this kind of amount happily for good service in a bank

Davewils

I agree. My mother has an HSBC Premier account, i dont know if she has to pay anything to have it or if its just a case of 'because you have money, we dont want to lose you'. Anyway, Premier clients have their own floor in the bank with drinks provided and computers you can use to simply catch up on emails or do whatever on (you dont even have to be in the bank for an appointment, you can just come in and use them). She has a direct dial number and all the staff their know her by her first name. It really is a nice experience going there with her.

I think its a typical case of 'those who have money, dont need it', much like a celeb gets free clothes etc etc, she gets all this treatment without it costing her a penny.

natweststaffmember

There has been a massive campaign in Australia around bank charges. To clarify it is also happening in New Zealand.

debvan1

Have to say I agree with mikeandrach, I would be much happier to pay a monthly "service" fee for my account than to get these outrageous charges. I do this with my German bank account, many times the insurance or phone bill have been gone for a day before pay is in, ok it means I have to physically go and pay a few days later but I don't get charged for it being returned unpaid, instead I pay 7 euro a month for the account and I am more than happy with that.

bengal-stripe

debvan1 wrote: »

I do this with my German bank account, many times the insurance or phone bill have been gone for a day before pay is in, ok it means I have to physically go and pay a few days later but I don't get charged for it being returned unpaid, instead I pay 7 euro a month for the account and I am more than happy with that.

I wouldn't exploit that - German banks are ruthless in closing accounts.

Once your Schufa entry has been damaged, nobody will touch you with the proverbial barge pole.

esmerellda

This follows investigation into penalty fees by the australian government and pressure from consumer groups. I have summarised the situation in this article if anyones interested (no you dont have to register) http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/showthread.php?t=18370

new unfair contract terms law comes into effect January 2010 and the banks are under threats from the regulators for a similar 'test case' as here.

Also the first account nab removed fees from charged $6 a month, and don't forget they charge many more fees for checking balances, paying cheques and the like than UK banks.

bukko

bengal-stripe wrote: »

Once your Schufa entry has been damaged, nobody will touch you with the proverbial barge pole.

Don't blame them - it certainly made my eyes water!

Banking_Gremlin

Triker wrote: »

Could this be the start of something I wonder?:D

HBOS have the Reward account at the minute and the £35.00 chg's and £28.00 overdraft chg's have been removed on that account and been replaced with a £5.00 fee each day your overdrawn, but if you have an overdraft on the account of under £2'500.00 and you use it there is a fee of £1.00 per day and £2.00 per day over £2'500.00.

I think this type of charging is going to come into play with all accounts across all the banks soon as another way of getting cash back from us.