Help Me Pick a New Bank for General Transactions

Talonparty on 25/11/2015 - 18:32

Hi, I have officially had enough of the Commonwealth Bank and I need advice on a regular bank for normal transactions.

The first straw was the overdraw fees - sometimes I saw my smartrider (perth) would charge my card and I would go straight to the bank to deposit cash to cover the direct debit. Despite the fact that cash was now in there I would still get hit with a $10 charge on a $30 payment — even though the transaction itself didn't go through for a few days.

Recently I have some transactions from a US company after a trial period has ended and the company was somehow able to charge my debit card (using the credit card number) and overdraw my account again. I am contacting them and asking some frustrated questions about just how they got the authorisation to do that. In the mean time I have been talking to the bank and getting conflicting messages. It also seems that over 20 years of being a customer counts for absolutely nothing to one of the most profitable companies in the country and the world. Despite the fact they made over $9,000,000,000 profit last financial year they simply can't find a way to waive an overdraw fee on a dodgy transaction that should never have been allowed to go ahead in the first place.

Today I was asking a teller to help me understand how one company can overdraw my account but others can't. This was the only one that has EVER been able to authorise an overdraw. She basically said the bank was doing me a favour letting the transaction through and that it was my fault for not cancelling the trial first.

Has anyone ever had this issue? I've done it for trials from dozens of companies, most recently google, deezer, presto and netflix were all unable to bill when I had insufficient funds after a trial period yet it was still considered my fault for assuming this other company couldn't do it too.

Anyway, there are so many banks out there and I'm just so frustrated and angry that I refuse to give CBA any more of my admittedly meager business. I think ING has the 2% cashback thing which might be good but I've been holding out that they'll do the 5% for 6 months again in the future so I'm not 100% sure I want to become a customer now and lose my chance in the future. Can anyone recommend a decent bank that I can redirect my pay to and finally give the commonwealth the arse?

Thanks.

Financial Bank Account Transaction Account

Related Stores

Commonwealth Bank
Commonwealth Bank

Comments

  • swiggity swag on 25/11/2015 - 18:38
    +4

    Commonwealth Bank is a good new bank, That's who I'm with and are really happy.

    • Talonparty on 25/11/2015 - 19:00

      It's just a principle thing now. I'll probably keep the account empty for a while, other family use cba too and they can transfer immediately if I am in trouble but just out of principle I need somewhere else to send my money to because I can't stand that 20 years of custom means nothing to them.

    • Doggiie on 25/11/2015 - 23:57

      CBA has good customer service, but in turn it has lower returns and higher fees than other banks as a result. They just do it because they can, and market loyalty keeps their capitalisation possible. Not talking bad about them though, I personally am with them too, but just putting it out there that there is no free lunch for a good bank.

  • jimmyjoo on 25/11/2015 - 18:40

    Try posting to their social media page. They tend to resolve issues faster than going through other communication channels.

    All banks tend to be the same. If no issues, they are fantastic. If there are issues, you'd probably find that no-one will be quick to resolve things.

  • rompastompa on 25/11/2015 - 18:45
    +2

    I salute you, General Transactions.

  • bluesky on 25/11/2015 - 19:20

    If you can use paypal, I think once the trial is over, you can go and revoke the authorisation within paypal. That way, the company will not be able to direct debit. (I stand corrected on this, just my belief at this point).

    If you are not keen on ING for now, how about nab classic account or ubank transaction account? Both are fee-free.

  • [Deactivated] on 25/11/2015 - 19:27
    +1

    why not get an overdraft facility on your transaction account to avoid paying the $10 every time you overdraw?

    dont think the banks really care how long you've been a customer for. its how profitable you are/will be. probably can get things waived if you have a loan with them..

  • BigTed on 25/11/2015 - 19:28

    I would suspect that it is of questionable legality for a bank to extend a credit facility to you without your request or permission.
    I also wonder how they would be able to recover for a credit facility you did not ask for and did not want.
    Of course, you would need to check the T&Cs of your account.

  • braddsey on 25/11/2015 - 19:43
    +2

    Try a credit union. You might get marginally more sympathy if you accidentally go into overdraft.
    Alternative is to get a small overdraft facility approved by the bank (say $500). They'll charge you interest on the amount you go into credit - but better than an overdrawn account fee. If you're controlled enough to only use it as safety no0et (and not as a credit card), it saves you a few $$$'s for the fee, plus the anger &frustration when it happens.

  • idjces on 25/11/2015 - 20:57

    I've been overdrawn with NAB on more than one occasion, sometimes for a day, and have yet to see a fee charged from them. So far the only fee from them I've had to purposely try to avoid, is the foreign transactions fees.

    I think you'll find most banks will let your account go overdrawn when being billed, you may have to request for them to stop such a situation.

  • rambutann on 25/11/2015 - 22:30

    Maybe just get a credit card and make sure that things that could be spontaneously billed come off the credit card?
    Thats what I do, you have 55 days to pay it off before interest is charged (I dont think i've ever left it for more than 3 weeks).

    Avoiding the overdrafting topic, I would suggest waiting for a $50-$100 referral with MEBank and then taking advantage of 5% cashback on purchases. That's what I did and its pretty good.

    My full setup is:
    Commbank - 4 accounts, 2 savings (these savings are more 'im going to spend this money in the very near future') + one transaction + one credit card. All of my pay goes to this account and I distribute it accordingly.

    MEBank - 2 accounts, regular transaction account + one savings account. I transfer my months worth of spendings to my MEbank savings account then only transfer my weeks worth of spendings into the transaction account. Any additional expenditures I have go onto the credit card and I just pay it off on my next pay.

    uBank - 2 accounts, only really use one.. this is just mass savings because they have a pretty good interest rate on savings.

    • mmd on 25/11/2015 - 23:10

      uBank - 2 accounts, only really use one.. this is just mass savings because they have a pretty good interest rate on savings.

      Doesnt RAMS have a better rate?

      • rambutann on 26/11/2015 - 12:06

        I signed up to uBank when theirs was the best.
        There are other banks with slightly better rates but the difference is so small that it isnt worth my time.
        RAMS for example is 0.03% better, but you cant make withdrawals.. making it worse.

  • kipps on 26/11/2015 - 08:23

    I've had accounts with NAB, CBA, ANZ, Ubank, Citibank, and more. BankWest, while owned by CBA (and in fact now the same legal entity as CBA), is one of the best banks I've dealt with. Perhaps look into them?

    Another poster above suggested a credit card - recommend this approach. It's better to have these merchants take money from credit cards than debit cards (hence how you got into this mess).

    PS, you might try lodging a FOS complaint against CBA for the transaction. Might get them to move to credit the fee in hopes of avoiding the complaint.

  • Talonparty on 27/11/2015 - 13:49

    Thanks for the help everyone. I tried to take up Me bank on a previous promotion (5% cashback and 50 reward) but after being requested further ID three times (once online, then in the post office, then again online) I let it lapse too long and missed out so I'll wait until another me promo. NAB looks good, I already have a joint account at bankwest with my wife but I'm aware they're just CBA in everything but name so I'm keen to go somewhere else.

    The credit card idea is ok I suppose but I'm so desperately poor. My wife lost her job and hasn't been able to find another one, she's ineligible for centrelink because she's a new migrant, I'm trying to complete my studies but I've had to go on leave of absence while I try to get a job and because it's the only way centrelink will help me (full time PhD study does not qualify for ausstudy). I've only been able to secure casual work around 12 hours per week. I just don't feel like a credit card is a smart thing to do until I have proper income because I can't imagine how I'd get out of a credit hole if I find myself in one, let alone if I'd even be approved.

    The foreign biller is going to refund me but of course CBA still wants their pound of flesh. It's so infuriating. I've been using debit cards as credit card for online billing since 2001 when I could first get one. I have never, ever, ever had a company be able to approve a transaction when there wasn't enough balance. It's so frustrating that commonwealth can't explain to me how it's able to happen.

    The way I see it, I don't even seem to have the authority to allow overdraw on a debit/credit transaction to a biller that I WANT to allow. There's just no facility for me to give that permission and no other biller has ever taken it. Yet this biller can do it, using the same information I supply to other billers (cc number, date and verification) and apparently it's absolutely normal and my fault for not being vigilant enough. The only recourse and way to stop this is to put a stop on these transactions at - get this - a $5 fee per refused transaction. So if some (profanity) in america wants to cause me trouble they can request billing over and over again and either a) get all the funds they request whether or not I have them in my account or b) cause me a $5 charge an unlimited amount of times — which will no doubt be deducted and overdraw me again.

    I just feel like I'm going to explode from frustration over this. I never want to give even a red cent to those criminals. $9,000,000,000 in profit and it's no wonder why. $10 overdraw on a $20 transaction that was never even approved, and now days and days of emails, phone calls and visits. Such utter and absolute pricks. NAB looks like it might be worth a look in.

    • bluesky on 27/11/2015 - 15:43

      Totally understand your frustration. You might also have better luck, with respect to the refund of the overdrawn fees, if you go to another branch. Depending on who you get, some bank personnel are a lot more accommodating than others - especially if this was the first time something like this has ever happened.

      Just had a look, yes, it seems the NAB Classic account advertises that it has no overdrawn fees

      But please look at their T&C carefully. I have had a bad experience with another of NAB's accounts - as explained in this thread:
      https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/189766
      (Buried in T&C, they don't have to pay bonus interest for some days in some circumstances, despite the highlight of their advertising is bonus interest "throughout the month".)

      But for the Classic account, I think it should be OK.

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