A bank account with fewer fees could save you thousands of dollars over time. Luckily, there are heaps of Aussie bank accounts that won't charge you account keeping fees, ATM fees or foreign transaction fees. The sooner you switch to a fee-free account, the sooner you'll start saving even more money.
There's no one account that is 'best', but here are a few of our top picks and why we like them.
If you have a bank account with a $5 monthly account keeping fee, that's $60 a year gone to fees. And if you're charged $2.50 each time you withdraw cash, and you visit an ATM just once a week, you can say goodbye to another $130 a year. Adding foreign transaction fees and overseas ATM fees to the mix, you could easily be wasting over well over $200 a year on fees.
| Response | |
|---|---|
| 0 | 17.25% |
| 20 | 14.11% |
| 2 | 13.21% |
| 12 | 11.32% |
| 1 | 8.18% |
| 5 | 7.73% |
| 10 | 7.19% |
| 3 | 6.2% |
| 4 | 5.84% |
| 6 | 4.13% |
| 15 | 1.89% |
| 8 | 0.81% |
| 18 | 0.54% |
| 19 | 0.36% |
| 7 | 0.36% |
| 14 | 0.27% |
| 9 | 0.27% |
| 11 | 0.18% |
| 13 | 0.09% |
| 17 | 0.09% |
Account keeping fees, ATM fees and international transaction fees are the most common, day-to-day fees you're likely to face with a bank account. Here are some additional fees you might face, even though they're less common in your daily banking.
Bank accounts will charge some types of fees but not others. The best way to avoid fees is to figure out the fees you're most likely to be charged and look for an account that doesn't charge these (for example if you regularly use ATMs you'll want to avoid ATM fees the most).
| What fee do you want to avoid? | Some bank accounts that avoid this fee |
|---|---|
| Monthly fees |
|
| Domestic ATM withdrawal fees |
|
| International transaction fees |
|
| Overseas ATM withdrawal fees |
|
The main thig you'll be looking at is the fees, but there are other features to consider when choosing an account too.
Most bank accounts charge no account keeping fees, so if your account does charge this fee know that it can be easily avoided with another account.
If you're often overseas, or you regularly shop online from international sites, look for an account that has no international transaction fees.
If you like to do some of your banking in branch, choose an account that doesn't charge extra fees for deposits in branch. It's also worth checking the bank has some branch locations near you.
It's convenient to have access to account via a mobile banking app so you can easily and quickly keep an eye on spending and transactions at any time, wherever you are.
Some accounts, particularly business accounts, will require you to maintain a certain monthly deposit or balance in order to have the account fees waived. If you're considering an account that doe this, make sure you can meet the requirements.
Some accounts offer things like cashback when opening the account or ongoing cashback offers when spending.
Choose an account that has the payment options you want to use, for example Apple Pay or Google Pay.
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